Don't shoot! He's my brother
by daveryship
Summary: What if Steve is put in a position where he has to draw fire on Danny. What then?
1. Chapter 1

**Don't shoot! He's my brother.**

 **Chapter one.** **Declare me dead.**

 **So here's another multi chapter guys. H5O has got me on a roll. This song i though perfect as soundtrack for this story. Do let me know what you think.**

 **.**

 **Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane**  
 **I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain**  
 **Oh and I can see Daniel waving goodbye**  
 **God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes**

 **Elton John - Daniel**

 **...**

He saw Danny standing by a tree in the jungle, looking at him with a smile on his face. Steve was startled.

"What the hell are you doing in a jungle Danny? What are you doing here?" He asked, confused.

"I could ask the same of you. What are you doing back here Steven? Huh? What happened to you?" Danny asked

Steve ignored him as he got up to go and stand closer to him. "Where were you Danny? I've been looking all over for you. What the hell Daniel?! Where did you go?" Steve asks anxiously, stretching his arms to try and shake him into giving him some answers.

"Wake up Steve!" Danny said, in a low voice.

Steve didn't register it. He just desperately wanted those answers, he made a grab at Danny but he couldn't seem to reach him.

"Wake up Steven!" this one was delivered a little more firmly but Steve still would not acknowledge it. What did he mean wake up? He was wide awake wasn't he? Danny was refusing to answer his questions and Steve would not have it.

"Huh? Danno? What happened to you? Why did you never come back?" Steve persisted, trying again to grab Danny but still couldn't reach him.

"Wake up Steven! God damn it wake up now!" This one was a shout and urgent in its tone. More like his usual rant.

Steve woke up with a start, heaving, gulping for breath.

"Danny" he whispered. He looked around for him but he wasn't there. What was there however, was a giant cobra snake where Danny had been standing telling him to wake up in his dream. The snake looked ready to strike and Steve froze. He stared it down and for a moment man and snake stared at each other, challenging. Steve made a grab for his gun subtly, careful not to make any sudden movements. Still, the snake wasn't fooled and it corked its head backwards in a sudden stance to strike. It would only take a mini-second for that head to come back with the force and the venom it would take to end him. A mini second is all that Steve needed to deliver that one shot to the head of the snake.

It went down.

Steve took a heaving breath of relief. Thank God.

If it wasn't for Danny he would have been bitten while he slept. He wouldn't have had a chance.

He leaned back against the tree as he took a moment to collect himself.

"You still looking out for me Danno? You can still have my back like that but you won't tell me where you are?" Steve whispered despairingly. He still missed his best friend so much. His brother. Even after all this time the feeling never went away. He still felt bereft, alone...lost. He missed him so much it hurt. The pain never stopped. It was sort of a comfort to him, as long as the pain was still there he would never forget. He still searched for him. He never stopped searching for him.

"Thanks Danno." He whispered, looking at the tree where the snake lay dead. Where he had seen Danny in his dream, telling him to wake up. Once again saving his life.

...

Seal Team nine was staking out an abandoned cabin in the jungle of Honolulu. It was a Special Op; one that Lt Commander MacGarrett had dutifully volunteered his team. Again. It seemed the Commander had a thing for the most dangerous missions, because that's all they ever seemed to go to. Believe it or not there are mission for a Navy Seal that count as mild sometimes, not so dangerous. And Lt Bradly Jacks would much rather be going to those ones now that he had a baby on the way. It just so happened though that he was on Lt Commander MacGarret's team. And the man had a thing for danger, God help him. Reckless was what he'd call it. It was almost like he had no regard for himself whatsoever. Yes Seals were trained to sacrifice themselves but this guy... this guy was downright crazy. If it wasn't for the fact that the Commander had saved his life in a mid air rescue;Did he mention crazy?; Back when he was still with Five-0 he wouldn't feel so obligated to watch his six. Also Joe White was bff with his former Commander Wade Gutches and they had all but ordered him to keep an eye on him. Whatever the hell was going on with the guy? He did seem to like his whiskey much. He was never without that little pocket bottle. It was like his best friend, never without it. He didn't make friends, it was all strictly business. Well ok, but if he could tone it down on the crazy mission strategy, maybe Jacks would get to see his baby being born. Maybe even live long enough for him or her to call him daddy.

The Lt Commander was holding his binoculars to his eyes, spying on the cabin. They were all waiting for his command to start shooting. Guns were ready, they had their targets in sight. Their orders were to demolish if possible every trace of any human being in that cabin. Why? This was only one of the most famous terrorist groups that had been reigning havoc in America for the past year and a half.

The commander gave the order to shoot then almost immediately stopped them, raising his fist up. He suddenly turned facing them, his face so pale he looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Hold your fire! Hold your freaking fire!" he shouted a little too loudly considering their very hush hush position.

He turned his binoculars back to the cabin and visibly blanched. The cabin was now empty. There was no one there anymore. A split second was all it took for their position to be compromised.

Lt Jacks looked at his Commanding Officer, who now looked quite flustered, heaving breaths and trying very hard to keep his cool face which had now turned ashen.

He had no idea what just happened. He had no idea how the Commander was going to explain this very failed mission.

...

Do review. See you in a bit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, thank you for the reviews and the following. Am gonna try and post this one regularly. So, here's chapter 2. Enjoy and do review.**

 **Chapter 2-title :What about closure?**

 **...**

 **One year, six months 13 days ago.**

Steve received a phone call from Chin, they had caught case and Chin was already on his way there. He'd been in the area when he got the call from Duke. Said Duke had sounded a little pissed since he'd not been able to get hold of either Steve or Danny. Well, it was a Saturday, early morning at that. And Danny was probably at Rachel's right now. Would have spent the night there. 'Talking.' He smiled as he thought about it. Danny would deny it of course, and maybe they were just talking, for now. However, he and Rach were getting pretty close. Steve would comment only he didn't want Danny ranting at him, in denial of course. But he could see it, how he felt about it though he wasn't too sure. He didn't trust Rachel all that much considering her past misdeeds. But Danny was too blinded by love to be objective. And Danny was way too happy with having his family back right now he didn't want to dampen his happy mood by voicing his own doubts about Rachel. He liked seeing Danno so happy but also dreaded the downside if things ever went south again with him and Rachel. Well then, Steve will just have to wait and see, hope that it doesn't pan out to be what he suspected it to be. But if it did turn out like that, he'd be here. He had to brace himself to pick up Humpty Dumpty and put him back together again. That was no small task, Danny tended to really break when Rachel did something. Guess that's what love really was about. Steve made his way to his truck, his mind already preparing himself for what he was going to see at the bridge. Another dead body of course. He tried calling Danny's number but it went straight to voice mail. Figures! The guy had been the last to leave the office last night. Said he wanted to finish up all paper work so he could enjoy his weekend without having to worry about it come Monday. He even did Steve's paper work, as usual. _Almost usual._ Steve corrected in his mind. He called Rachel's and no, Danny had not gone there last night. She didn't even speak to him last night. Hmm, Strange much? But then again Danny could be catching on to some much needed sleep. He decided to leave Danno for now, he's too fussy about his beauty sleep. Steve didn't want to get in the way of that.

...

Chin made his way to the crime scene only to find Kono already there.

"Hey cuz. How did you get here before me? I am closer to the scene than you." Chin complained

"Oh but I drive faster than you cuz." Kono quipped with a laugh. She and Chin made their way to Duke and the HPD at the scene.

"So what happened here Duke?" Chin asked

"Lt Kelly, Officer Kolokaua." Duke said in greeting. "A vehicle went overboard into the Ocean. At this point we can't rule out foul play. The divers are in at the moment, searching. We have the fire department already working on extricating the vehicle out of the water."

"When do you think this happened Duke?" Kono asked

"We think very early this morning. Am not quite sure. We'll hear from the ME when they retrieve the body." Duke said

"Alright Duke, thanks." Chin said, moving to stand near the bridge observing as the Fire guys tried to extricate the vehicle from the water.

"Hell of a way to go man." Lou said, as he walked up to Chin and Kono.

"Hey, when did you get here? Even you are earlier than Steve and Danny." Chin said to the older man in greeting.

Lou laughed, "Well I don't know what's holding up McGarret, but if he went by to pick up Danny then he's probably trying to get him out of bed right now. It's a Saturday after all and you know Daniel and mornings."

They all laughed, "You might be right there brah." Kono said.

The vehicle is lifted from the water by the machine, they all looked on as it was raised from the water but it is Chin who saw it fist.

"That...isn't that...?" He stuttered, frozen in place.

'No. Oh my God no." Kono said, also dumb struck

Lou wanted to say 'no man , no way that can be', but they all knew the vehicle well enough to have no doubt at the moment whose it was. Still they held on to hope, that someone on the Island had the exact same car. The car was brought down on the ground and they all rushed to get a good look at it. No one said anything for a moment; they all froze, not believing it.

"Oh my God!" Kono said, already taking off her clothes to jump in the water. Chin did the same without much thought. They had to get in there fast, because there was no body in the vehicle. One thing remained, the body should still be in the ocean, or at least they thought. They hoped to God it wasn't too late. Lou left it to the water cousins to dive in. He wouldn't be able to swim in there to save his own life. He wished he could jump in too though, anything to help.

"Hey guys, we have divers in there already searching for the body. Professional divers." One of the fire guys said to them, seeing their intention to jump in.

"Yeah, and we've got a brother in there. So we're jumping in, you can't stop us." Chin said impatiently.

"Fine, at least take some gear." The guy said, handing them both some diving gear.

They quickly put on their suits and Kono was the first to dive in. As an afterthought Chin turned to Lou, "Hey, McGarrett is on his way here. Just...see what you can do man." He said, receiving a nod of understanding from Lou before diving in.

Lou sighed in despair, shaking his head; he looked up to see McGarrett's truck pull up. He rushed forward to meet him. The vehicle was hidden by the fire truck, McGarrett will not be able to see it from that point. And Lou wanted it that way for as long as he could stall it. He had no idea how he was going to break the news but he thought it kinder to warn McGarrett, prepare him in some way before he could actually see the vehicle. How he was going to achieve that, he had no idea.

"Hey Lou?" McGarrett said in greeting, getting out of his truck. "What do we got this early in the morning?"

 _He has no idea, none whatsoever_. Lou thought to himself, it mad his job a lot harder.

"Ah...hey man. Now I don't want you to freak out because we don't know what this is yet ok?" Lou said, holding up his hands.

McGarrett frowned, "What are you talking about Lou? Freak out about what?" Steve asked, now getting a little concerned seeing Lou's face.

Lou sighed, whipping his face with his hand, he leaned on McGarrett's truck and sighed again, clearly distressed and not knowing what to say. Now Steve was really concerned, he started looking around at the scene to try and get an idea of what was going on.

"Lou, you're scaring me man. What...what happened? What's the problem?"

"Ah...we think... its Danny." Lou said and Steve's heart just stopped at that name. He froze enough to not be able to say anything.

 _What_?

"I...I don't know man, we just fished his car out of the ocean man...

 _No!no no no no._

...there was no body in it...

 _Body? Danny's body?_

"Kono and Chin have dived in to search man. As well as some professional divers in the..."

Lou didn't even finish as Steve finally found his grip on reality and started running to the fire truck. Lou sighed exasperated. _That went well._ He thought to himself. _Now he's gonna jump in the ocean head first without any gear on._ _Just like the other two had almost done_. He followed him at a run , hoping he could help tone down the crazy.

...

"Commander McGarrett." Duke said as he saw Steve coming like an avenging angel ready to do havoc. He didn't even look to acknowledge him as he sped past him to the vehicle. He wanted to see it for himself. And yep, that was Danny's car alright. Steve didn't even take off his shirt before he dove into the ocean. He didn't have the time, Danny didn't have the time.

Lou sighed as he looked on, "Didn't I say it?" He said to himself.

...

They had dispatched HPD to go to Danny's house, and they came back with nothing. It looked like his bed had not been slept in last night. Infact, it looked like Danny never got home last night.

It took hours, actually four hours for the divers to come out, having yielded nothing. They couldn't find a body. If there had been a body the sharks most likely got to it first. And there was no evidence left, blood or otherwise since it all happened in the water. The water would have washed it all away. And sharks don't leave leftovers. The team however, stayed in there a little bit longer, not wanting to give up yet. And Steve was also in there, without any gear. Lou had a feeling that as long as Steve was still in there the others were not coming out either. And Steve would not come out of that water without Danny. As long as he could still breathe under water with that mouth piece that had been hastily tossed to him while he was already in the water. He had no suit but McGarrett was probably not thinking about frostbite or hypothermia right at that moment.

Finally the team came out .There was no body.

The Hawaiian sun continued to shine ever so bright, as usual. But nothing could dissuade the gloomy cloud that descended on Five-O that day.

...

 **Do review, let me know what you think. See you in a bit.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, hey thanks for the reviews. Yes I know you want to know what he saw but all in good time right? Right now lets see our favorite Commander suffer shall we?**

 **Do review and let me know what you think.**

 **ps- Fanfact- Hey did you know that Scott and Alex's age difference is one day? Alex D.O.B-24 Aug 1976. Scott D.O.B 23 Aug 1976. Huh? Weird or what? That inspired this. Enjoy.**

 **Chapter 2- Memories, thou doth kill me.**

 **...**

 **One year after 'death'.**

 **Six months Before he saw what he saw.**

 **...**

 **Oh oh, Daniel my brother you are older than me**  
 **Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won't heal**  
 **Your eyes have died, but you see more than I**  
 **Daniel you're a star in the face of the sky.**

 **Elton John-Daniel.**

...

He took a swig at his whiskey; it's been a year now. It hadn't gotten any easier. They had buried him. No, an empty casket is what they buried; but bury him they did. And everyone had gone their own way, put it behind them and moved on. Rachel had taken the kids to England, there was nothing to stay in Hawaii for anymore. He had tried to move on. He had moved on. There was no Five-O anymore though. And he couldn't stay in Hawaii anymore. Everywhere he went was tainted. He kept seeing his brother's face.

Kono and Chin had gone back to HPD and Lou had been reinstated in Swat. All that because Steve had refused to lead the team anymore. But he'd reenlisted into the Navy. And now he's sitting under a tree in the jungle, on yet another mission. He volunteers himself and sometimes his team for any and every mission. Always working, out on drills or running, hoping that maybe one day he'll be able to outrun his pain. It didn't seem to be working any.

He took another swig from his little bottle.

Commander of Seal team six. Right back to the start.

He'd got the call after his morning swim in the ocean. Danny had run his car over a bridge.

How the hell was that even possible? Danny didn't even wake up at that hour.

A case. They had caught a case. Danny was a freaking case!

He took another swig.

Of course at that moment they had not known the case was Danny. Their Danny. They had had no clue.

It was Danny's quiet place. Near Danny's quite place. He went over that bridge. The only place in Hawaii that he loved. And he died there. Presumably died there. Steve could still not accept it. He couldn't accept it. For one, there was no body to prove to him beyond any reasonable doubt that Danny had died in that Hawaiian Ocean that day.

Steve had dived in along with the professional divers. They'd given up when they couldn't find a body. They said he must have been eaten by a shark. There were a lot of sharks in that area .

But Steve was not buying it. He had searched for days, everyday he would dive in that ocean to search only coming out because he knew he had to get in there again the next day. Most of the times he was tempted to not come out.

But he had come out. Without a body, no proof ,no closure. He never got it. And he couldn't let it go.

He still carried the feeling that Danny was alive somewhere.

...

He remembered the first time they found out about their birthdays. They were born the same year, same month and one day apart. Danny's was before his by a day. Plus they shared the same blood type. Its like they were meant to be bothers.

 _"Whoa! That just creeps me out a little bit." Danny had said._

 _"What creeps you out Danny? It's totally normal." Steve had baited_

 _Danny made a face "Figures. It would be to you."_

 _Steve ignored him, "Ok, so what's the plan here? Are we just going to have both on mine? You can afford to wait a day can't you?" Steve asked._

 _"Are you serious? Gee thanks for such a generous offer Steven but I have my own birth date, thank God!"_

 _"Come on Danno do you want Kono and Chin to have to go through the trouble of having to organise two birthdays with a difference of a few hours?"_

 _"24Hrs, a whole day."_

 _"You don't know that. We could be separated by just..."_

 _"Fine whatever. But I am not having my birthday celebration on your birthday."_

 _"Danny I wouldn't mind you poaching my birthday. I'm totally cool with it man."Steve baited_

 _"Oh thank you your Highness again for being so kind. I can poach your birthday? Like I didn't have mine, what an offer." Danny said, sarcasm dripping off every word. "Now tell me, why does it have to be on your birthday? Why won't you be the one to compromise and come up to mine? I am older." He stressed._

 _"By a few hours!" Now it's Steve's turn to defend their age difference._

 _"24Hrs, a whole day."_

 _"We don't know that."_

 _"Fine, but I am still older. And if anyone has to compromise it would be you. Let's have your birthday on mine." Danny said._

 _"Not gonna happen. Come on Danno, let's just have it on mine. See my mind was already made up about the date and all, I can't change it now." Steve complained_

 _"Of course not, because you're too much of a control freak. However, I draw the line on my Birthday."_

 _"Our birthday." Steve chipped in._

 _"No control freakiness on my birthday Steven!"_

 _"Come-on it would be cool Danno."_

 _Danny made a face as if considering it, "Nop. Not cool. What would be cool though is to not have the birthday celebration at all. Just chill like it's any other day. Nobody needs to know."_

 _"What? You don't think they already know? They already know Danny."_

 _"Just...let's not. Ok?"_

 _Steve later had snuck up to Kono and Chin, told them about their little situation and asked them to combine both birthdays on Danny's birthday. Little did he know that Danny had done the same. Only he had asked them to put it on Steve's birthday. Of course he could wait another day. His parents would have sent him presents and birthday wishes on his actual birthday anyway._

 _When the team did not do anything on Danny's birthday Steve had assumed that they had decided to just scratch the whole thing all together. It was just as well. The pair of them came with a whole load of complications._

 _Then he had received a call from Chin, at quarter to midnight ,saying that they had caught a case and he needed to get to HQ ASAP. Oh and he also had to pick up Danny because he had been having problems with his car in the morning and had sent it for service. It will take him about 10mins to pick up Danny and get to HQ. Considering that Danny would have to be ready and waiting for him and he didn't have to wait for him to put on a tie._

 _They had got there in record time, with to two minutes to spare. Two minutes before midnight._

 _"Hey guys, what's up? What's the case that couldn't wait till morning? Usually people kill other people at midnight and we catch the case in the morning." Danny complained. He wasn't too keen on being dragged out of bed at such a God forsaken hour._

 _"Oh, is it midnight already brah?" Kono asked_

 _"Yeah, in about ..." Steve said looking at his watch,"...5 seconds."_

 _"Oh that's just too bad brah, sorry for waking you up but thanks for being on time. Both of you." Chin said, non committal. Steve got a little suspicious about his attitude._

 _"On time for what? What's up?" He asked_

 _He was startled to see people coming out of the other offices yelling, Surprise! Holding a giant cake shaped like two hands joined together in a handshake with the letters 'PARTNERS' written on it in bold; and 'happy birthday twins' in small letters. The whole Ohana was there. The Kamekonas, Max, Charlie from the crime lab. Wow, he looked at Danny and he looked just as shell shocked as he was._

 _"Happy birthday guys. We figured this will put an end to our little predicament." Chin said with a smile on his face._

 _They all laughed, hugs going around, beers being clicked to each other. It was a celebration. At midnight._

 _"Chin, don't tell me we're gonna having midnight birthday celebrations every year bro. This is not gonna become a thing right?" Danny said, joking._

 _Chin just smiled, exchanging mischievous looks with Kono._

 _"Oh boy. I am in trouble." Danny grumbled. The group just laughed._

 _Steve then walked to his office to take out the present he had been keeping for Danny and Danny had done the same. They exchanged gifts._

 _"You bought me a tie. Really Steven?"_

 _Steve just made a face, "You say you have a special tie Gracie bought you for Christmas, well this will be your special second tie. We don't want you running out of ties now do we Danno?" He said, unwrapping his own present._

 _"Ha! Cargo pants." He said, in derision._

 _Danny just smirked. "Ditto buddy."_

 _"Well, these will be my special Cargo pants Danno. I'll wear them all the time. All the better for them to tear quickly, you get what I mean?" Steve said with a meaningful smirk._

 _"Happy birthday Steven."Danny said with a grin._

 _"Happy birthday Danno."Steve grinned right back. "You're quite cheap Danno do you know that?" Steve said looking skeptically at the pair of pants._

 _"Shut up Steven you bought me a tie." Danny quipped._

Steve smirked at the memory. He had kept the pants to this day. They were his favourite pair. And Danny had kept the tie until...until...

Steve took another swig at his whiskey to try and patch his throat which had suddenly become painfully dry. He couldn't even bring himself to think it. Until he died.

Only he'd never really know that.

A million feelings, A thousand thoughts, a hundred memories. One person.

...

Then there was the time when Chin Ho Kelly's little niece, Sara, had brought her pet to HQ. A spider. In a little glass container. Steve knowing Danny's aversion to the creatures had borrowed it for the day, just until Danny got back from where he had gone to run an errand. He had put it on his desk and waited for Danny to come back.

 _"Hey, why are you displaying spiders on your desk? I'll tell you now that's a bad habit man." Lou had said as he popped his head into his office. His obvious aversion to the creature clear on his face._

 _"Hey don't you worry my friend, it's a present for Danno." Steve had said with a sinister look on his face._

 _"Oh I see." Lou had said, catching on. "I'll have my camera ready."_

 _"Me too brah. Can't wait to see this one." Kono shouted from the computer room with a backward wink at him._

 _Chin just smiled and shook his head. "Oh here we go with the pranks again." He said_

 _Danny had come in later bouncing on his step as he made a beeline for Steve's office. He had a problem. Or a complaint._

 _"Man I tell you the people at the..." He stopped in his tracks, never to finish his sentence._

 _"What Danno?" Steve asked_

 _"What... what's that ...on your desk Steven?" Danny asked in disdain, pointing a finger at his desk._

 _"What, this? Its Mr. Spider Danny, do you really have to ask?" Steve said innocently._

 _Danny seeing the look on his partner's face stilled himself from going with the question 'So what's it doing on your desk?' He just pulled himself to his full height and squared his shoulders, not saying a word he turned and walked out of the office._

 _"No Danno, you're not getting off that easy buddy. I'll have you on YouTube." Steve said under his breath._

 _They had to go out to question a suspect and they were out for the rest of the day. Just him and Danny. The rest of the team had stayed behind digging though files._

 _They got back and Steve, all ready to put a lid on the day by putting his prank in action walked straight to his office to get Mr Spider; and Mr Spider was gone. Somebody must have taken him, except the little glass box was still there, and it was open. Nobody would dare take the spider with bare hands right? Which left one thing, Steve had been careless and somehow Mr. Spider had escaped from his cage._

 _Crap! He'd lost little Sara's pet. She was going to be mad._

 _"Hey, have you seen Mr. Spider?" Steve asked the group now gathered around the computer._

 _"Mr who now? Oh you lost your little best friend? The spider?" Danny said mockingly. "I knew this was gonna end badly. You don't keep creatures of the jungle on top of your desks in-house. But what do I know?"_

 _"Shut up Danny. Come-on, did anybody see him? Kono, Chin?"_

 _They both shook their heads in denial._

 _"Boss...I ...don't move. I Think I found him." Kono said hesitantly, looking at Steve curiously._

 _"What...where?" Steve asked, now on alert._

 _"He's on your...he's crawling up your..." Kono tried to explain_

 _Steve froze, "Up my what? Kono!" He started swiping at his hair frantically, turning around to try and look at his back. "Where Kono?"_

 _Kono was now in stitches, trying to hold a straight face, "On your back boss."_

 _Steve made a grab at the back of his shirt, trying to shake it off. "Is it gone?"_

 _"No boss...it's there...now it's on your shirt collar, about to crawl up your neck. Any second now it will be in your neck or...or in your hair." Kono said._

 _All this time Steve was trying to follow her directions. Swiping at his neck, his back, even messing up his hair. "Is it gone? Kono? " He said, still frantically swiping all over now; anywhere he could reach, turning around to get a better angle. He didn't even notice that the others were now in stitches with mirth. They were keeping their laughter on the inside, careful not to let on to Steve. Not that he would have noticed then._

 _He felt it on his neck before Kono could say, "There boss, on your neck."_

 _He made a frantic quick swipe at his neck and the spider fell to the floor. He automatically crashed it under his foot, that's what he would do in the jungle. Forgetting momentarily that it was a pet, one he had borrowed for that matter. From little Sara. Right then he was in Navy Seal mode._

 _Find target, destroy target._

 _By this time everyone was staring aghast at him, stunned at his action. Except for Danny. No Danny is on the floor, unable to control his mirth as he clenches his stomach trying to breathe. Kono is no better._

 _But Steve didn't even register that as he suddenly came to the horrific realization of what he had done. Oh crap! He'd just killed a little girl's spider._

 _"Brah, you just killed my little niece's spider." Chin complained in shocked hilarity_

 _"Oh crap." Steve said in dismay, staring at the unrecognizable squashed spider with a guilty look on his faces._

 _There was a roar of laughter between Kono and Danny now both sitting on the floor; Grover was leaning on the computer table with tears of laughter streaming down his face._

 _Shit! He may have just been played. He looked at Danny on the floor and that's when he noticed it. Danny was holding his phone, his camera was obviously on. Crap! He'd been filming him all this while._

 _Steve made to grab at that phone from Danny's hands but he managed to evade him and ran out of the room. He went after him, chasing each other around the office. Danny made it into his office and locked his door. He pressed the send button and he knew that Steve was watching him do it through the glass door. He looked like he was about to break the glass door down when Danny suddenly put his phone on his desk, opened the door and walked out as if nothing happened._

 _"What did you do Danny? Who did you send that to?" Steve demanded_

 _"YouTube." Danny said, nonchalant._

 _Steve stared at him in horror, "What...wh...You didn't!" He stammered._

 _"Ok, if that's what you wanna believe." Danny quipped._

 _"Daniel Williams I swear to God..."_

 _"Relax, I didn't post it on YouTube you big goof. I just sent it to Grace. And to Kono since she's a stake holder in this little opretation. She deserves her equal share, don't you think?"_

 _Steve looked at Kono with a look of utter betrayal, "Kono? Really?"_

 _Kono just shrugged her shoulders, "Look boss I was all ready to set my camera on Danny when Danny came to me with an irresistible proposal. He said, 'how would you like to see the SuperSeal do a happy dance?' And...I mean, how could I resist that?" Kono said, in defense._

 _"And now would you say it was worth your while?" Danny asked Kono, with a smug look on his face._

 _"Oh more than I had bargained for. It was so worth it brah." They high fived, giggling again._

 _"Daniel...?"_

 _"Steven. Just relax, I said I wouldn't post it on youTube and I won't, I didn't. Neither would Kono. Right Kono?" Danny said looking at Kono who just nodded in affirmation._

 _"Though it was your plan to do that to me I won't do that to you bro. I promise." Danny said, placating._

 _"Well, you may not do that to your bro here but you did just send that video to a teenager, correct?" Lou said with a meaningful raised eyebrow._

 _"Oh crap!" Steve said, in renewed horror._

 _"Hey relax, you know Grace. She won't do that..." Danny tried to calm him._

 _"Do you know how fast teenagers are with those things? I am just saying, she sends it to a friend and the friend sends it to a group of friends and before you know it, you don't know who's got a video of you on their phone, you know what I am saying?" Lou persisted._

 _"Lou, you're not helping." Danny said, at the look of horror now pasted on Steve's face._

 _"Steve, come on, you know Grace. She loves her Uncle Steve so much she wouldn't do that." Danny said looking at Steve who looked back at him with a bit of expectation and hope. "I think." He finished, a look of uncertainty coming on his face._

Steve laughed at that memory. He had hunted Grace down to try and find out if she had sent that video to anyone. And to delete it from her phone. She hadn't, bless sweet little Grace. He didn't have to put the whole school on lock down just to try and contain the threat. He had given Grace a grateful hug and a kiss on the cheek. _"You're the best niece ever. The sweetest. Your dad though, kid your daddy is not so sweet."_

 _Grace just laughed, hugging him back._

 _"I wouldn't do that to you Uncle Steve. You're my Uncle Steve." She said._

Grace, she must be a real little lady by now. And Charlie, poor kid didn't get enough time to know his father. Danny never got to really know his son who'd been kept from him for most of his life.

Danny never got to...Danny never...

He took a swig of his whiskey again, trying to quench the burning sensation in his throat; his eyes were fast smarting with tears, burning like a sonofabitch. Whiskey helps.

Funny thing about memories, but it's hard to forget someone who gave you so much to remember.

...

 **Just a titbit down memory lane. See you in a bit.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys. thank you for the reviews as usual. I really appreciate you. I know you've been waiting for a while but here's another one. We're back to when he saw what he saw.**

 **Hope you review and like.**

 **Chapter 4. Should my mind forget, my heart will remember**.

 **Present day**

Steve knew what he saw. He was not crazy though most people would call him that since that horrible day. He couldn't let it go now. He'd always had a feeling that Danny wasn't dead. But then if he wasn't wouldn't he have found a way back to them by now. Back to his family? He may have just lost a mission on account of his mental instability but he had to make sure. He would be certifiably crazy if he had just lost a mission because of his hallucinations.

He carefully made his was to the cabin, his team was back at their place of hiding, getting ready to leave the place. Mission failed. They had no idea he had gone back to the cabin, which they had all inspected thoroughly only to find traces of it having been occupied recently. Their target had moved.

Now he was looking again in the cabin. Walking around, trying to feel his presence. Nothing. There was nothing here to remotely indicate that Danny had been here. He sighed dejectedly. He had just botched a mission over nothing.

Suddenly he found himself sitting on his ass. He had just been leg tackled down. He had no time to process when he heard the sound of a gun corking. He looked up to see a 9mm pointed at his face. His heart stopped beating and he couldn't get any words out. Sloppy for a Navy Seal, especially his kind of Navy Seal but the sight before his eyes kept him grounded. He couldn't move to save his life.

Very familiar pair of blue eyes were looking at him. The only thing unfamiliar about those eyes was the coldness in them. They were so cold. Almost like they were empty. Just glass. He could not believe it but...

"Danny."

It was a whisper, tentative in case this mirage would suddenly decide to disappear again.

He saw a flicker of something in his eyes. Not recognition, not by a long shot, but something.

Then Danny raised his hand to touch, albeit involuntary, at the place on his chest where his heart was supposed to be. There was a sudden confused look in his eyes.

Steve never noticed the second person who came in at that moment, his eyes were fixed on Danny.

"What are you waiting for Tinman? We're in a bit of a hurry in case you hadn't noticed." The guy said, addressing Danny.

Steve only saw him from the corner of his eye since the guy was standing a bit to his side , out of his line of vision. Plus his vision was otherwise occupied at the moment, a gun in his face also giving him little opportunity to turn his head to look at the other guy. But he heard him loud and clear and he was not a fan.

Danny remained quiet, his focused on Steve. They continued to stare at each other.

"Blow his damn brains out or do you need help? I'll just have to tell Hassan that his Tinman is malfunctioning again." The guy said with impatience, pointing his gun at Steve, his intentions quite clear.

Steve froze, so maybe this is how he dies. At the hands of his own brother. He prepared himself.

It took a split second.

Bang!

But he felt nothing. He turned to look at the other guy and he was sporting a new very red hole on his forehead. The guy went down.

Shocked, Steve turned to look at Danny, his gun was still smoking and it was no longer pointing at him. Did he know? Did he remember now? Steve waited to see if he did because surely he did. But there was nothing in his eyes to indicate that he remembered, just confusion at what he'd done.

He never said anything. Just took tentative steps backwards, the gun now pointed at Steve. He exited and left him there.

Steve's reaction time was way off, considering he'd had the wind knocked out of his lungs by the whole experience. He stood up to chase after Danny but he couldn't find him. No trace. He's disappeared.

Steve bent over to lean on his hands on his knees, he was panting like he had run mile. His chest was crushing he put a hand there to try and ease the pain. No luck.

He started to retch.

"Hey commander, are you ok?" He heard Lt Jacks ask. He must have heard the gun shot and followed him here.

 _Did he see anything? That is of course aside from the dead guy?_

"Hey why did you come back here? I thought we cleared the place." Lt Jacks asked again.

"Apparently not because i just shot a guy." Steve said, already covering up for Danny. He had to know what was going on first because right at that moment nothing made any sense. He stood up to look at Jacks, gaining some control. "Did you see anything else, anyone else?"

"No, nothing. Are you sure you're ok" Jacks asked again, still concerned.

 _He hadn't seen anything, that was a relief._

With that Steve pulled himself up to walk back to the cabin.

"I am good." He said to reassure Jacks

"What were you doing out there. Did you see someone else?" Jacks asked

"No I just...I thought I had seen something but I was mistaken." Steve said dismissively

"Well now, there goes our only lead." Said Jacks, looking at the dead body.

Steve didn't say anything, just looked at the dead body but not quite seeing it. He only saw Danny as he was taking steps retreating from him. That image was never gonna leave him.

...

He slipped out like he had been trained to do. Like all he knew to do, leaving no trace. He must have been shot. That guy must have shot him because the pain in his chest had been acute and excruciating. He had rushed out and when he knew he wasn't being followed he hunched over with his hands on his knees, taking a breath. He quickly checked himself for a wound on his chest.

Nothing.

Not even a bruise. Now he was even more confused. What the hell just happened? That guy had called him Danny. That word and his eyes, something had shot an invisible bullet to his chest because it had hurt. He doesn't hurt, he doesn't feel, he doesn't know anything he hasn't been taught. Something about that guy had seemed familiar but he had never seen him before. However, lately the simplest things made him react in a very unusual way. He saw monkeys the other day in the jungle and he had almost cried. He has never cried as far as he knew. He frowned, what the hell was happening to him?

He walked up to Hassan and the crew ,not quite sure how he was gonna explain being alone at this time.

"Where is Jethro, he was supposed to be with you." Hassan asked looking around for Jethro.

"He was shot. He got shot by the soldiers." He lied. Not sure why he had to lie. Not sure why he had shot Jethro. One of his friends, if he could call him that. Why did he shoot Jethro to save a stranger? And why did that stranger feel more familiar than anything about himself right now. Why had it hurt so much to look into the eyes of that stranger? It had hurt so bad he thought he had been shot. Why did some things make him wanna cry? The other day, they were walking through the jungle to their campsite and they saw some monkeys. He had not realized they were monkeys until somebody mentioned the name. He remembered feeling sick at the mention of the name monkey. He had wanted to curl up and cry . Why? Why did he suddenly feel that way? What was happening to him?

He had just killed one of his brothers for a stranger. A stranger who felt more like a brother than even Hassan himself. He had no idea what a brother was supposed to feel like, only the relationship he had with Hassan and his crew. He was part of that crew . They were a family. Family. What exactly did that mean?

"Are you sure he was not captured? Are you sure he was dead dead?" Hassan asked

"Yes he was dead." He answered

"Good, we would not want him to be captured alive. Let's go." Hassan said, leading the way.

He was pretty sure there was supposed to be some kind of …what? He didn't know, a feeling maybe? But nothing, one of theirs was dead and ….nothing. They move forward.

...

 **Do review, let me know what you think . See you in a bit.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5- Unraveled.**

 **Hey guys, thank you so much for the review, i do appreciate you feedback. Now, here's another one. I do hope you enjoy it.**

 **Don't forget to review. Mahalo.**

...

Steve settled his back against a tree truck as he waited for the plane that was going to take them back to base. The atmosphere was tense since, for the first time during his leadership of this Seal team, they were going back to report a failed mission. This was going to be one big mess to clean up and heads were no doubt going to roll. No, not heads. His head. As desperate as the situation was he could not give himself much time to ponder it. He could not get the image of Danny retreating from him out of his head. That's all he saw. He sat apart from his team, as usual, sneaking a drink or two from his beloved bottle. Something had happened to Danny. They had wiped his memory for sure but the Navy was not going to care about that. Danny was now a major terrorist threat whether he was aware of it or not. He hoped to God nobody from his team saw anything. His only solace at that moment was that no one knew about Danny. This bought him some time. If he could still get in on this mission he might just be able to save Danny. They better not punish him by taking him off this mission.

His mind drifted back to the Danny that he knew. The one he had opened up to about his stage fright. The only person he had told about that . The only person he had felt safe telling anything about his personal life, as long as it wasn't classified.

He remembered when he had told him about his passion for playing music but was plagued by the worst of all stage frights. He could never play before an audience since the day he froze in front of dozens of people back when he was in High school. Danny had bought him a guitar the next day. He treasured that guitar now even more. They had gone for their counselling session then and went back to Steve's house after. Danny all the while nagging him to play for him the song, in particular, he couldn't play back in high school. After a long drive of arguing Steve had finally relented. Danny had bought him the guitar after all, the least he could do in gratitude was to play him a song. Too bad he wanted _the_ song.

 _He remembered thinking that this was some sort of therapy that Danny was trying on him, to try and help him get over his stage fright. Well good luck with that. Steve had issues, major issues when it came to his stage fright. Much like Danny's claustrophobia. Anyways, playing for Danny wouldn't be a big deal, if he couldn't play in front of Danny then he could never play at all. He took a deep breath, getting the best of his courage. Strangely, he didn't feel so uptight or scared as he adjusted his guitar, sitting one leg up on a stool. Danny was half lying on his couch, giving him his full attention, ready to hear the song. Usually that kind of attention would totally render him useless but not in this case, not right then._

 _"Ok, Bon Jovi, I am ready. Let's hear it." Danny said, impatiently._

 _"Take a chill pill alright. I am trying to get my bearings here." Steve quipped back, clearing his throat before starting his guitar. He played smoothly, his voice coming out a little hoarse. He had to be a little rusty of course; it had been a long time since he'd played. He was surprised that he could play at all. Without any trace of fear whatsoever._

 _There was a long deafening silence though after he finished playing, and he couldn't help but hold his breath waiting for the verdict. But judging by the look on Danny's face, he had not been so bad. In fact he'd say he had been awesome. It took a lot to render Danny speechless._

 _"Uh...um...wow." Was all Danny could manage to say at the time, looking at him as if he didn't know him at all?_

 _"Wow what? And stop looking at me like that." Steve chided_

 _"Can't help it. You just sang me a love song babe." Danny joked_

 _"Shut up Danno. Now how was it?"_

 _Danny cleared his throat and scooted into a sitting position on the couch. "Now listen to me and listen to me very carefully Steven because I am only gonna say this once. As much as it pains me to say this, you my friend are incredible. You are awesome. You...you are very good indeed. Now you keep that to heart because I am never to say it again. Wow"_

 _"Thanks Danno."Steve said, with a goofy smile._

 _"Now I think you are ready and it's time for you to play for our Ohana." Danny suggested_

 _Steve froze at that, "No Daniel. No way."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"Am not ready."_

 _"Come on it's your Ohana Steve."_

 _"I am not ready Danny." Steve insisted_

 _"You just sang to me."_

 _"That's different. You...you're my safe place Danno."_

 _"You do realize you've just made me quite awesome right? Like for real." Danny said with a knowing smirk on his face._

 _"Don't let it get to your head Daniel. It only means that I feel like I am alone if I am with you in a room. You might as well be that couch for all the significance you hold with me."_

 _"And yet you were holding your breath just now just to hear what I thought about your... I loath to say it..., but very beautiful music. I am your safe place babe, you can't take it back."_

 _"I should have known you'd be so smug about it."_

 _"Now let me give you some piece of advice, if you sing that song to Catherine I guarantee you she'll come running back to you. Trust me."_

 _"You think?"_

 _"Yes I think you big goof. You're too modest. God, I've never seen a Navy Seal who's afraid of people but in your case I understand, you're basically an animal."_

 _Steve had laughed throwing a cushion at him as he got up to go get some beer._

They had been like that with each other. So open and free in each other's presence. There was no awkwardness between them whatsoever. They could tell each other anything, the good, the bad, the ugly. Each knew the other better than the other knew himself. They would fight one minute and the next they would be laughing. They could sit quietly on his lanai, looking at the ocean drinking beer and not say anything. For hours they would sit like that with not a single word spoken between them and it would not be awkward at all. There was no need to fill in the space with speech, there was no awkward silence to fill. They would sit in that silence and feel like they were having the most important conversation. In a way, they did, they could almost always tell what the other was thinking. They had been that easy with each other, that close. Steve had never had anyone in his entire life that he had connected with emotionally at that level. And he never will. Because it hurt too much.

He took another swig of his whiskey only to find that the little bottle was now empty. He glared at the innocent bottle with such hatred. If he didn't need it too much he would hurl it across the jungle in frustration. But he knew he'd be the one to go and search for it again. He depended on that little bottle of whiskey so much if it dropped in the ocean he would jump in after it. It made it so easy for him to carry his whiskey, that pocket bottle. So easy for him to hide it.

...

Steve stood before the panel, all the Navy officials waiting for answers from him on why the mission had failed. He could get kicked out for this because he had no good reason that anyone should know about right now. He stood at attention as he was being questioned. All he managed were the 'no Sirs' and the 'yes sirs'.

"So Commander, you had the target in your sights did you not? Was the Intel good?"

"Yes Sir."

"Then explain to the panel Commander why you did not engage?"

 _I saw Danny_

"We had to take the enemy alive Sir."

"Where those your orders?"

"No Sir but the leader of the group, Hassan, was not present therefore we needed some hostages to lure him in Sir."

"Is that your professional opinion Commander?"

"Yes Sir. At the time, it was."

"Well thanks to your professional opinion we have terrorists running around on the Island as we speak. God only knows how much more damage they have planned. Are you able to live with that?"

"With all due respect Sir, if you were to give me another chance I will make it right. Send me to the Island and I promise I will make it right."

The officials looked at each other then at Steve.

"Well we will have our verdict in a few minutes, may you excuse the panel Commander." The General said, dismissing him.

He nodded and made his way out.

Ok, that didn't go so bad. It looked like they were going to give his team another go at this. That's all he needed, another chance. With Navy resources he'd be able to find and save Danny. He stewed there for minutes waiting to be called in. It was taking longer than he had anticipated. What were they still deliberating on?

After a few more minutes he was called in. The moment he walked in he could feel that the atmosphere had changed. Something had changed. He stood again before the panel and waited.

"Commander McGarrett do you perhaps want to adjust your statement on what exactly transpired resulting in your failed mission?" The General asked, his face unreadable.

 _What just happened?_ Steve cleared his throat and squared his shoulders some. "I am sorry Sir but am I missing something? I thought I already told you what transpired."

"You're not answering the question Commander."

"No Sir, I don't wish to change my statement Sir." He said. What the hell was happening?

The General looked at the others on the panel before producing a photograph. "Are you sure it had nothing to do with this?"

Steve looked at the photo and his heart nearly stopped. It was Hassan and his crew, and Danny was there. He swallowed. All of that, seeing Danny in the flesh and all, it had been like a dream. But now, now he was really sure he had not been dreaming. And Danny was now very realistically in a shit load of trouble. Just how..?

"Commander Mcgarrett?"

He had a feeling they had been calling him for a while when he had zoned out in his own little world.

"Uh...yes Sir...I mean no Sir...no. I... what am I looking at here? Where did you get this?" he asked, more than a little scared now.

"What you are looking at Commander is one of your former colleagues, formerly deceased but apparently here very much alive and part of Hassan's crew. Do you or did you have any knowledge if his involvement when you decided to throw the mission?"

Steve squared his shoulders at that implied accusation, "With all due respect Sir, may I ask what I am being accused of here? Because I've been nothing but dedicated to this country, serving my country. I have a spotless record and if you're going to accuse me..."

"We are not accusing you of anything Commander. However, you would admit that it is no coincidence that the one time you screwed up a mission is when it suddenly turned out personal for you."

"Again Sir, if you are accusing me of something just come out and say it. And as for that photo, I don't know where you got it but if at all it is authentic which I highly doubt then there has to be some explanation for it. Danny obviously got kidnapped and they are using him right now. We need to rescue him."

"We just received this from INTERPOL and Williams doesn't look like he's under duress to me."

"Well then they must have done something to him. Something to his head, messed with his brain or something. They might have wiped his memory. This man right here is a good man. He served his country with dedication for most of his life. He has a family and there's no way that he would do this while in his right mind." He took a steadying breath, getting emotional, knowing that his deffence of Danny's integrity right now was not doing him any favors. But he'd be damned if he would let his brother's name be soiled like that. "He is one of ours and he needs to be rescued and brought home." He finished.

The officials just looked at each other. Then the General looked back at him and cleared his throat.

"Commander no one is accusing you of anything, however I am sure you will agree that due to the circumstances and your personal involvement it will be prudent if you would recuse yourself from this case." The General said, not exactly asking.

No way he could just stand by and watch another Seal team take out Danny. No way in hell. But this wasn't exactly a request was it? Steve held his breath, this was the worst punishment they could have dealt him right now. But maybe not. There may still be another hand to play.

"I understand and I would like to take this opportunity before this panel to request for a leave of absence. Considering the circumstances."

"Leave of absence granted."

That's all he needed. He knew what to do. He would not let them order an air strike or any such thing to take out Danny while he was out dutifully serving on another mission. No way in hell.

...

 **and now were here. See you in a bit.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, here's another chapter. Thank you lots for the reviews and the following. Thank you for reading at all.**

 **Now let's get on with it. Do review and let me know what you think.**

 **Chapter 6 - Countermeasures.**

 **...**

He crossed one leg over the other as he sat in a chair in the waiting area outside the Governor's office; flipping through the pages of a Magazine he really wasn't seeing. He was looking sharp in his dress blues. He had to make an impression here and his uniform usually did the first impression trick well. At least it gave him a hearing, the rest was left for him to deliver and deliver well. He really wished it was Denning he was waiting to see right now, because while Denning could be called strict, they had developed a relationship over the years and Denning wasn't above bending a rule or two to suit his agendas. He would come in handy right now. And Jameson, yeah Jameson would be the ideal Governor for this right now. While trying to cover her dealings with Wo fat and the Yakuza she would have done anything for Steve, Just to keep him in her pocket. Funny, he wouldn't mind being in her pocket right now. Anything to save Danny.

Now this Governor, she was a hard read. A really hard read. Though they had worked together for almost a year before Danny 'died' and all shit went to hell, he really could not peg her well. He couldn't say he really knew her and he was hoping he could make a good case here. Danny's life may depend on it.

Danny. He was many things his Danno, but he was no terrorist. And he would prove it or die trying. First he had to save him.

Danny had a really complex personality. A real roller coaster. People thought he was talkative but he had his moments of quietness. Like when he was sad or hurt. He would be all broody and quiet, barely put a word in. Or when he was among people he really didn't know, he would sit slightly apart, quietly assessing. You had to earn Danny's friendship.

And when he was happy he would be his usual talkative self, cracking jokes and all.

Then his anger, his anger was also loud. Making sure that he was heard, that he didn't like this or that or he was irritated about this , that and the other. He would complain nonstop about it. He could rant until tomorrow and you'd be left in no doubt about what Danny didn't like.

However his wrath, now his wrath was different. It was quiet and still. Very very still. Danno was usually all motion and talk but his wrath was something to behold because it was so unDanno.

The first time he saw it, Danny's friend Meka had been murdered by none other than one of his colleagues at HPD. After working relentlessly to clear his friend's name then finding that one of his colleagues was the one who had framed and the killed him, Steve had to watch to his amazement Danny unable to talk with rage. His voice very low and carefully controlled. Then he had let his fists speak for him instead, he had wanted to punch the guy to death.

Then when Rick Peterson kidnapped Grace. Peterson knew him well since they had worked together in Jersey, he also knew how much Danny loved his daughter and used that against him. But as soon Danny was out from under his thumb the guy was lucky that all he got was a bullet in the knee. And that was only because he knew Grace's location. He gave it up quickly after one look at Danny's face, and when Danny had threatened that the next bullet would go through his skull Peterson knew it to be true. He knew that look well and he didn't need any more incentive.

Then poor scumbag Maco Rayes had to go and kill his brother Mattie. Poor dude had no idea who he was messing with. " _Oh you better kill me now because i swear to God i'm gonna put a bullet in your head the first chance i get."_ Steve remembered Danny's quiet barely controlled voice quite clearly. The guy had laughed and told them to leave , with Mattie's body in a drum. He should have listened to him, because the first chance he got Danny had grabbed then guy, told him to look at him before he blew his brains out. No doubt wishing the guy could wake up so he could do it again. He would regret it later but in the moment of his wrath, there was no backtracking.

Steve had seen that look again when Wo Fat had kidnapped him. Steve had had may run ins with Wo fat, the guy taking pleasure in torturing him whenever he could have the upper hand. But his last run-in with Wo Fat, Steve had really thought he was done for. He had actually had a near death experience where he thought he was sitting on his lanai with his father. He had woke up to see Danny's face, his dad was gone. He had been so out of it he had asked for his father and Danny had to tell him that his father had died some years ago. Steve had cried. It had all felt like it was happening again he had grieved for his father afresh. That's what that bastard had done to him. That's when he saw that scary look in Danny's eyes again. If Wo fat was not already dead he would catch a bullet in his brain faster than he could say Shelborne. He could actually see Danny wishing that the guy could come back to life so he could put a bullet in his head as he looked at his dead body with a bullet hole on his forehead.

His eyes would turn ice cold and fire at the same time. That was Danny's wrath. It was rare, only to be witnessed if you dare mess with someone he loved. Danny's wrath was lethal.

However, the look he had seen in Danny's eyes a few days ago was different. That look had nothing Dannyish in it. It had been vacant. No fire, no feeling, nothing. They had done something to him and Steve had to make sure to bring him back. He had to make sure to find him before the Navy or the Army or any of the powers that be decided to order an air strike and destroy the finest human being he had ever had the honor of knowing. The brother he never had. And take him away from him again.

He sighed with impatience and restlessly moved in his chair as he waited for the Governor to finish her meeting. She was taking too long. His hands had started to shake, he looked at them and put the Magazine down to try and hide the tremors from the Governor's secretary who was no doubt observing him. It was nothing that anyone would notice really but still he didn't want to take any chances. He had the art of hiding his tell tell signs well, but he hadn't had a drink all morning and the governor better make this a quick one or he'll be in a bad way pretty soon.

...

He was called into the governor's office after a while; he took a deep breath before walking in. This Governor he had no history with. She was still new to him. Yes they had worked together for almost a year but he never really got to get into her pockets like he was with Denning and Jameson.

Though Denning would claim to getting some grey hairs during his time with Five O because of some of the way out of the box stunts they pulled, he had no problem standing by them defending their actions even if afterwards he would tear them a new one. He was a military man; he stuck up for his own. He was Ohana ,and that element would come in handy right now.

And Jameson wouldn't just bend a few rules to cover for them, no Jameson was a bender. She would bend any rule for Steve as long as she got to cover her own dealings with Wo fat and the Yakuza. Her deceptive character would really come in handy right now. Well too bad he had neither Jameson nor Denning, he had to fight to prove to this one that he could do what he said he could do. He had to convince her and he had a feeling he was going to work hard.

He straightened his tie and walked in.

"Commander McGarrett, please take a seat." She said with a smile and he reciprocated taking the seat indicated.

"It's been a while Commander, what can I do for you?" She asked, taking in his appearance. He looked sharp. That included the facial more angular features now more pronounced than when she had known him. He was a bit thin, well more than a bit but she figured the training as a Seal came with that. Plus he went away under a cloud, still grieving a friend they were all not so quite sure was dead. Only they had been unable to solve the case. It remained Five O's first and only cold case.

"Well Governor, thank you for meeting me. Let me just cut to the chase. I wanted your permission to start a task force again here. Your task force actually. Sort of reopening Five O." He said

Well now that's not such a weird offer if one would not stop to consider that it was coming out of the blue. "That's a good offer Commander but may I ask why now? What has changed to make you change your mind? If I remember correctly I tried to stop you from leaving but you were adamant and you were quite sure you would never come back?"

"Yes ma'am, that was quite a difficult time for me you might imagine but something new has come up. I have recently learnt of a terrorist threat here in Hawaii and despite everything that happened this is still my home. I have to protect it." He stated.

"Yes I have heard of that and actually a Seal team was assigned for that particular job. So I am not sure what you think you can do to help but the government is all over this. Frankly it's out of my hands. This is a major national terrorist threat and information is not being distributed down here that smoothly." She said with a resigned smirk.

"I do understand your position ma'am but I was part of the Seal team sent to neutralize the threat and I can safely say that the threat is still out there. A task force here with jurisdiction over this part of Hawaii may keep things at a minimal in terms of damage. We also could find the threat better and faster that any Seal team can. You know how we used to work Governor." He said earnestly

"I do understand Commander but I am not sure I can override…."

"Yes you can. Yes you can Governor." He cut her off; now sounding a little too desperate the Governor's curiosity was piqued. Steve looked away for a moment taking a calming breath, his hands were starting to shake again and that was never a good thing. He had to wrap this up. And tell her the truth. If he had any hope of getting what he wanted.

"Governor, one of the …uh….terrorists," He hated saying that, "…Is Detective Williams." At her raised eyebrows he raised a hand to stall her and continued. "He apparently was kidnapped that time and they messed with is head or something and now he's running around with them. Now the government will do anything to stop this terrorist threat but I would want a chance to also save Danny in the process. I need your help Governor. I need this task force." He said, looking her desperately in the eye.

"Commander I would ask you to leave my office right now if…if….,do you know what you're asking me to do? Aiding and abetting….?"

"Ma'am we want the same thing. To catch the bad guys. And if Danny is one of the bad guys he would be caught of course. What I want is a chance to catch him alive. To give him a hearing or at least find out what changed so drastically. He won't have that chance to defend himself or to explain himself if an air strike is ordered which I can tell you now is what the Military and the Navy are considering. As soon as the Government gives the order. I need a chance to find him and avoid all this. He served under you Governor; you know what kind of man he is. He's one of our own"

The Governor sighed, "I take it the Navy excused you from this mission because of your personal involvement?" She asked

"You could say that. Or I volunteered a leave of absence."

"Commander this is difficult for me but I would not be the Governor of Hawaii if I didn't believe in setting my own rules . From what you've told me I would not appreciate some mainlanders coming here to take over my Island. You have my full support, now find this threat and make it go away. Save your friend in the process that's up to you. Now I'll make a few phone calls, you can start tomorrow. I believe you want our former Five O members involved?"

"Those are the only people I want involved. And thank you so much Governor." He sighed in gratitude and relief.

She just nodded, picking up her phone. "They will meet with you and me at the former Five O Head Quarters tomorrow. Today I'll have it set up, tomorrow we start. In the meantime why don't you go home and rest. That's an order." She said with a kind smile.

Steve smiled back, nodded and stepped out of her office. That went well. That went really well, thank God. Now he just had to find Danny. But he needed a drink first, right about now.

…..

Thanks for reading and reviewing .See you in a bit.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, thanks for the support as always, you guys rock. Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. Here's another one. I hope you like and review.**

 **Chapter 7 - Back together again. Almost.**

...

"What's your name?"

"My name is Detective Danny Williams."

"What are you?"

"I am a terrorist."

"Why are you a terrorist?"

"Because America sucks."

Hassan nodded looking at the others. "He's ready." He said, looking at him proudly. "You are my grand finale. You ... You're going to make me famous."

That's all he remembered about that name. But the time was coming when he was going to have to use it . Hassan had said it was soon. Hassan had said it was important. He was important.

...

Kono could not believe the order that came from the Governor yesterday. She and Lou and Chin were supposed to meet her at the former Five O HQ. Even Jerry had been summoned. The whole Ohana. Except of course for Steve and Danny. Could the Governor may be contemplating reopening Five O? Maybe she had found another Seal to lead it. They had all moved on with their lives after what happened. They moved on as far as they could but there was no really moving on was there? All the memories came flashing back as she walked into HQ for the first time in forever. She had missed this place. Working at HPD was not bad but this place taught her so much. She had family here. She lost family here. She could see Danny smiling at her from his office, waving a packet of what could only be malasadas at her; she would rush in and grab it from him, leading the way to the kitchen to make coffee. The others would join soon after but that was kind of like their own morning ritual. The two of them. She looked into Steve's office and she could see him sitting on his desk with aneurysm face in place contemplating blowing up something or some other crazy ninja move.

History was made in this place. Relationships so strong that it felt more than family. They would do anything for each other. They had been a nice happy family. Even now, she realized that she could never completely get over it. She had a family of her own now but her daughter would have loved to grow up into that family, the family that was Five O. Always feeling like she had super heroes protecting her. Like Danny's daughter and son grew up feeling. Until it was all ripped away from them in one day. Everything fell part for all of them in that one day. But they had moved on right? Lou's family was doing ok, Jerry had found a job as a Tech guy at HPD, Chin and Abby had tied the knot and where still living on the Island being great parents to little Sarah. And Steve, well Steve may as well be dead for all they knew. Joe made a point of giving them updates about him,even if it was only to say that he was alive, that was all they needed to know. But his updates were far and in between that she had no idea of Steve's pulse status since the last update they had got from Joe four months ago. Yeah, well he had other things to do than to keep them updated about McGarrett. They just held their breaths that his next update would not be to tell them that he had died on a mission. Always on a mission. She looked around the place again, at the computer table she had loved so much. She could see Steve and Danny chasing each other around that table after one prank or the other, the whole place filling with laughter. There had been so much laughter in this place. Then so much sadness it had been unbearable the last days before Steve decided to call it quits. The place could never be the same without one of theirs. And Danny made the place feel so alive. Then so dead, when he died.

"Hey cuz, I see you're the first one here." Chin said, walking up to give her a hug. He held her a little bit longer sharing in the unspoken emotions this place invoked for them both.

"Yeah, I wanted to get the feel of the place first without any audience. Didn't know how I was gonna feel being back here again." She said solemnly

Chin just nodded his head, fully understanding what she was talking about, and what she was feeling.

"I hear you." He said sadly, looking around the place with the same solemn look.

Lou and Jerry shortly walked in together; the same contemplative looks on their faces as well. They just quietly gave each other hugs. In no time they were laughing, talking. Reminiscing about the old days, the shenanigans they used to pull in this place. It had been a happy place. No one wanted to venture or to ask about why the Governor had called them in so suddenly. No one asked if McGarrettt was still alive because it was obviously on everyone's mind that that could be the very subject that the Governor would have called them in for. To tell them that McGarrett was dead. But no one would voice that; they will have to cross that bridge when they got there. In the meantime laughter was great; it was needed before the floods. Crossing their fingers and hoping to God that it was not a storm that was coming.

Kono looked up feeling the very still atmosphere that had just suddenly invaded the place. She saw the Governor walk in but that's not what had everyone so dumbstruck they failed to breathe. It was the person walking besides her. Ever the Seal, tall, strong and sure. Kono held her breath, not quite sure she was seeing right. She could not take her eyes off him to see if the others were seeing the same thing. They locked eyes and she could not stand still anymore. The relief of seeing him alive, the subject of all of their worry just moments before was just so overwhelming she nearly buckled under her own feet. He noticed and walked swiftly towards her, the look in his eyes still of pain and regret. They hugged without exchanging a single word, the whole room was quiet a pin could drop and they would hear it. He held her for so long, and she held back wishing she could take away the pain she could still feel in him. To somehow fill the void that she knew could never be filled by another human being again. They let go finally and stood back a little to look at each other.

"Hey," McGarrett said, his voice gruff

"Hey…hey you. You are a sight for sore eyes." She said with a watery smile.

"You've no idea brah." Chin said from behind her as he walked to give him a hug too. Then Lou followed and then Jerry. They were all so relieved and happy to see him since just moments ago they had feared him dead.

Could it be that he has come back home for good? Did he want to reopen Five O? To start over? Was he ready now? He didn't look ready. He looked haunted still, and thin. He'd lost weight. But there was a new hope in his eyes that they had last seen when Danny was alive. She remembered the last days at Five O, when try after try they could not get any lead, any evidence that Danny was still alive. The only possible conclusion being that he had been eaten by a shark. His body was never found in the ocean.

They had buried him then, an empty casket. Held a funeral for the hero that he was. But coming back to work and trying to pretend that they could just move on to another case had proved harder for all of them than they could have anticipated. Five O had died with Danny, and it was all in the hanging gloomy atmosphere for all to see. It had taken a week. Then Steve had walked in with a number of envelopes in his hands. Handing them each one. She remembered his defeated dropped shoulders, his haunted eyes. He's changed.

 _"Guys I am sorry but I can't do this anymore. I am so sorry but I can't even think to try."_

He had explained the envelopes, a job for everyone, he was not leaving them high and dry but leaving he was. He was going back to the Navy. Hopefully to kill himself, Kono had thought fearfully at that moment seeing the emptiness in his eyes. And now he was back. They all could not wait to hear what he had to say. And the Governor of course.

The Governor cleared her throat to get their attention after the reunion was all done. "I am very sure you may have guessed what you are all here for. I will let Commander McGarret brief you on the finer details but I just wanted to say that I hope you are all ready and willing to serve under Commander Mcgarrett again as the Five O Task Force. We have an imminent terrorist threat on Oahu and I would really appreciate your help as my task force again. I'll let the Commander enlighten you with the details." With that she shook hands with everyone and left.

They all just looked at McGarret with expectation, wondering what just happened. What kind of terrorist threat could pluck McGarrett from his hide away in the jungle to come back to Oahu? A place they were all so sure he was never to set foot in again.

"Ah... guys it's …uh….its so good to see you. I missed you. I missed this place." Steve started.

"We missed you too brah, it's so good to see you, you have no idea." Chin said

He took a deep breath, "We have a….a situation." He said

"Yeah tell us about it. A terrorist threat? That's quite major bro." Lou said

"Yeah…uh…it's not just any terrorist threat. It's Hassan."

They all froze at the mention of that name, and that guy was in Hawaii? For what? Hawaii is pretty small game for the likes of him.

'Wow that's just…." Kono started and was unable to finish her sentence

"It's not just that. Umm … he's got … he's got Danny." Steve said hesitantly

"Wait a minute …. What? Danny our Danny?" Lou asked incredulously

The room had gone quiet trying to process all this.

"But… Danny's …Danny's dead." Kono said, failing to process it all. It was too much for one day.

"Is he Kono? Is he really?" Chin asked, "Lets face it, we never found a body."

"Ok, hold up a bit here for us old folks who may be hard of hearing. Are you telling me that Danny Williams, our Danny Williams is still alive?" Lou said with shocked exuberance." Man let me process that for a minute. Let me just be happy about that fact for a minute before we get into the details of him being in the hands of the most wanted terrorist in the world." He said, leaning on the computer table for a bit.

Jerry clapped his hands with excitement. "I knew it. I knew it! Without a body, a person cannot so quickly be pronounced dead. I said it. I knew it!" He said, with a smile and everyone else started to process that piece of information. They all started to laugh with happiness hugging each other.

"Oh thank God." They said, one after the other.

"Steve how do you know this?" Chin asked, curiously. "Have you seen him? Have they demanded a ransom or something? How can we get him back?'

"Yeah, was there a ransom demand? What do these people want Mcgarrettt?" Lou seconded.

"Hold on, it's not as simple as that." Steve said, and then he sighed. "We may have a problem."

"Tell us brah, what is it?" Kono asked, eager to start on Danny's rescue.

"Yeah anything to get Danny back brah, what can we do?" Chin said.

"Ok so here's the thing. We believe that Danny is part of the terrorist group." He waited for in drawn breaths and the shocked gasps, "He was taken and they probably messed with his head because he doesn't remember anything. He ….couldn't remember me?"

"Danny's a terrorist?"

"Wait a minute you saw him?"

"Wait, how do you know all this?"

"How do you know he doesn't remember? He can't be willingly doing this."

"It's obviously under duress."

"He's a prisoner, we've gotta get him out'a there."

A hundred questions coming from different people he didn't know who said what. He held up his hands to stall them,

"Hold on a minute. One at a time. The reason why I took a leave of absence from the Navy is because they believed that I was compromised. Because of Danny's involvement in this." He said, then looked for a chair to sit in. The rest took up sits in the room and gave him their full attention.

"Ok, this is classified but I don't care, its Danny." He said looking at them in the eyes. "I saw him." He said, quietly but they all heard him. The quiet stillness in the room attested to that.

"You saw him. " Lou said in disbelief. "Saw him how? Where?"

"I was assigned to take out Hassan and his crew. I stacking out their camp with my seal team, then when… when we were about to strike, I …I saw him." He sighed again, the memory still playing havoc with his mind. "Then I halted the strike and when I turned back they had all gone, disappeared just like that. We had been compromised. But I went to the shack they were camping out, just to make sure I had seen right. I thought, maybe my mind was playing tricks on me again."

"Again?" Kono asked

"Yeah, I'd been seeing him, in my dreams and such, the usual. Anyway, I went down there just so maybe I could get the feel of him, something. If he really had been there. Then of course I found nothing. But just when I was about to walk out I was tackled down. Next thing I knew Danny was staring down at me with a gun pointed in my face."

Kono took an audible breath; the whole room was so still.

"He didn't know me Chin." He said looking at Chin, the memory of that encounter still hurt. "He didn't know me. "

"What happened?" Chin asked

"Well I called his name but there was only confusion in his eyes." The memory of that confusion in his eyes, the hand that had touched his heart as if he had been burnt still left him confused. "There was a vacant look in his eyes he didn't know me. But then this guy, one of Hassan's guys walked in, seeing the situation he just expected Danny to blow my brains out and told him to make it quick, they were in a hurry. Danny…he turned the gun on him and blew his brains out instead. Then he looked at me and just walked out. I was so shocked I couldn't move for a whole minute. I walked out after him but he was gone. I had to lie to my team that I was the one who had done it."

"Wait, so if he knew enough to save your life, doesn't that mean he knows what he's doing?" Chin asked

"No I don't think so. I think it was instinct that made him do that. They messed him up but he's still in there somewhere. And we have to bring him back."

"We have to bring him back. Man this is just so fictional if I wasn't here in this room I wouldn't believe it one bit. Danny Williams running around with the most wanted terrorist group in the world." Lou said, shaking his head.

"So if you covered it up how did the Navy get to know about it and you being in a compromising position?" Chin asked

"They got a photo from Interpol with Hassan's group and ... Danny was on it." He said

"Oh my God." Kono said in despair then brightened up almost immediately as a thought came into her mind, "Then they know he's there, they should know that he's one of our own and that he's in a hostage situation. They should want to help."

"It's not quite like that Kono. The Government is considering him a threat also, they want to take him out. "

"No way, somebody should explain to them…"

"Explain what Lou. As far as they are concerned he's in with the group willingly and they don't have the time or the patience or the interest to take him alive. That's why we have to do something. That's why I came back. We have to save him. We have to find this group, do the job ourselves and save Danny. Before anyone else gets their hands on him. All Government Agencies are on this and it's only a matter of time before they all descend on this Island ready to exact their kind of justice. We cannot let that happen."

Jerry was listening quietly, contemplatively "This is bad, this is very very bad." He said

"You can say that again brah." Kono said

"Yeah, and if anything goes wrong, we can all be charged with aiding and abetting a terrorist." Steve said looking at their faces to see if they wanted to back down. "I'll completely understand if…."

"Stop it Steve. It's Danny. He's one of ours. He's our brother. We have to bring him back. Whatever it takes."

"We're in man." Lou said

"Count me in brah. You could not keep me away." Kono said

"One hundred percent." Jerry said.

And that was that. Now they would start their task of aiding and abetting a terrorist. This was some deep shit. They may be in over their heads, But there was no way in hell he was backing down.

….

 **So that's it for now. See you in bit.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8- Against the world.**

 **Hey guys, again thanks for the reviews and the support. I know you want you some Danno, i know. Just go with me for a bit.**

 **Here's another one. I hope you like and review.**

...

The Governor walked into HQ the next day. Everyone was gathered around the computer table, no doubt hard at work trying to find the terrorists and their friend. Well they just had to work a little harder now.

"Gentlemen and lady, I am sorry to say but things have just escalated. We've received a video and you need to see it for yourself." She handed Steve a flash drive and he went ahead to plug it in.

Not quite sure what he was going to see, Steve held his breath. The video started playing and the face that came up on the screen just had the room going very very quiet. Steve held his breath, or he just couldn't manage to breath at that moment. The photo, Danny in the flesh he had seen in the cabin, the thought of him being alive was not yet quite real to him. Until now.

Danny's face filled the screen, his eyes vacant and cold.

"My name is Detective Danny Williams. And I'm a terrorist. Because America sucks." He said in a robotic monotone.

Then Hassan's face came up, grinning an evil grin. "You will cry. You will all cry. You say we are the terrorists. Now one of yours is now one of ours. You shall fear one another. You shalll fearr your'r next door neighbor'r. You shalll beg." The video went blank and Steve had difficulty releasing the breath he had been holding. This had just gone to shit. This had just gone all the way to hell.

"Where did you get this?" Chin asked, when everyone else had just gone quite, not able to say anything.

"Our people intercepted it. To the best of our knowledge it hasn't aired yet. This was one of Hassan's rejects. We believe the real one is still out there and he's just waiting for the right time to air it." The Governor said.

Macgarrett released a breath of relief; at least it hadn't aired yet. Whatever little time that could buy them.

Lou scoffed, "One of his rejects? This looks pretty real to me. What, does he want to put some rainbow and glitter editing?"

"However," the Governor went on,

 _It keeps getting better,_

"Williams' face will be all over the Internet and news papers as America's most wanted. We are talking very soon, like tomorrow morning soon. Not to mention the Navy and the Army are going to be all over the place come tomorrow. CIA and Homeland are already here they should be coming here to get some information from what you've gathered Commander, I suggest you cooperate. We talked about this; If you don't like the idea of your territory being invaded solve this now." The Governor said pointedly to McGarrett, nodded at the others and made a quick exit.

This whole time he could not talk. He could not move. That stupid video was going to be aired to the whole wide world and Danny's kids didn't even know that their dad was alive. The next thing they were going to find out was that their dead father had come back from the dead and turned terrorist. Steve had no idea what he was going to do.

"At least we got a heads up. Maybe this is the time to give them a call." Kono said, reading his mind.

"Do you want me to talk to them?" Chin asked

"No no I'll…I'll call Rachel. I'll talk to them." He sighed. This had just gone from very bad to very very bad.

He walked to his office and closed the door. He took a deep breath and sat in his chair. He took another moment before dialing Rachel's number.

"Hello?"

"Rachel its Steve, how are you?"

"Oh Steve, I am fine .We are all fine. How are you doing? It's been a while since we've heard from you. The kids missed you."

"I am sorry I've just been ... uh ... really busy. Listen Rachel there's something very important I need to tell you."

"Do I need to sit down?" she said, with a nervous laugh. No doubt reading the despair in his voice.

"You probably should." Steve said

"What is it Steve?"

"Ok it's gonna sound really strange but…uh, we found Danny. He's alive." He didn't need to stretch his ears to hear the in drawn breath from the other end.

"How….?"

"Yeah I know. Listen, that's not all. He was kidnapped by a terrorist group…"

"Oh my God."

"And they did something to him; they wiped his memory and ..., they uh...they turned him Rachel."

"What do you mean turned him?"

"It looks like he's one of theirs now. But I promise you we will bring him back. I will bring him back even if it has to be in a strait jacket, I'll bring him back."

"Just as long as it's not a body bag." She said, with nervous laugh.

"I am here to make sure that doesn't happen. Hey just tell the kids and make sure they stay away from the internet and news papers. There are some things that may come up that may not be very good to hear. So just keep them safe Rachel. I'll be in touch."

"Thank you for telling me. And … please bring him back."

"Yes ma'am." Steve said,and hung up the phone. He didn't have the guts to talk to Grace right now; he'll take the easy way out and let Rachel handle it. He's got a lot of junk on his plate right now. One of which had just walked into the conference room. It looked like it was just inching to talk to him. And it looked like it was CIA. He walked out to greet the guy.

"Agent Breed, Homeland Security.

Ah Homeland. And now it starts.

…

Jerry was busy on his computer working out something. He screwed his face this way and that way until his face finally lit up. He had got something.

"Guys, i got something." He said, rushing into the computer room from his office. Kono was busy at the table; the team had been working nonstop to find some leads but still nothing. It had been two days since Danny's face had been pasted all over the papers along with Hassan's as America's most wanted. Two days after all of America's finest came to reign on the Island, CIA, Homeland, the Army, NSA, The Navy, FBI. Who the hell was coordinating this thing? Everybody wanted a piece.

"Hey Jerry, tell me you have some good news." Steve said.

"Now, I have triangulated the most possible hiding places on this Island for this kind of group. You will not believe it." Jerry said looking at the group.

"What? The ocean?" Lou said sarcastically

"Actually that's not impossible. There is a research finding that says..."

"Jerry, please, back to the matter at hand please." Steve said impatiently, not wanting to waste time on Jerry's conspiracy theories.

"Ok, here we go," He said, punching in some keys then swiping some coordinates on the big screen. "Here, I will bet you this is one place they will definitely be camping out."

Steve didn't need to ask how he knew, they had a location and if Jerry was sure then that was good enough for him. "Let's go." He said, already leading the way. He took out his phone,

"I need your chopper man. I am on my way now."

"What? Brah this is a vehicle for business brah. You should at least make an appointment you know."

"Well, I am making it now. I'll be there in 10." Steve cut off the connection, not waiting to hear any protests

"Kamekona?" Chin asked with a raised eyebrow as he followed him to the truck.

"No red tape, no hustles and most of all no interference from America's finest." Steve said with a knowing look at Chin who just nodded in understanding.

They drove to Kamekona's and the big guy was already waiting for them with the leys in his hand.

"Thanks buddy." Steve said, taking the keys from Kamekona.

"No problem brah, anything for the Ohana. Now you take care of my precious here." He said looking at his chopper. "And bring back the hoele safe before these other hoeles get to him." He said with a knowing look at Steve.

How did he even know? Sometimes Steve did wonder.

They flew over the jungle to the coordinates that Jerry had provided. They landed way way out so that they would not be detected, and tracked the rest of the way. One disadvantage of a helicopter was the noise it made. Now they had to walk. They approached stealthily; the jungle was so thick and so quiet.

There was a cabin again, hidden by trees it looked like part of the jungle but no, it was a cabin alright. Steve got ready, got still, getting into Seal mode. He held out his hand, giving hand signals to his team who followed without question.

Steve approached, wondering if they will be able to take out Hassan's crew without having to use any explosives. It was going to be difficult but they would do it, to save Danny.

Something was wrong. It was too quiet. Steve approached and peered through into the cabin. There was no one. It had been vacated, again. He walked in now, no longer trying to hide, knowing already that there was no need.

"Boss? Anything?" Kono asked, already coming to the same conclusion.

Steve leaned on his knees in frustration. He felt like he could just drop. Or hurl. He could not answer her for a moment, too disappointed to think. "No," He sighed. "Nothing." Steve felt like hitting something but he could not lose it in front of his team like that.

Lou and Chin walked in too, not saying anything.

As they were about to walk out they suddenly heard, "Hands up! Show your hands, Drop your weapons!"

Steve had already drawn his, and so had his team, pointing their guns at their assailants.

Suddenly he dropped his weapon as recognition registered, and his assailant did the same, recognition registration in his eyes too.

"McGarrett."

"Styles." Steve said, none too friendly. He looked at the rest of the Seal Team who had now dropped their weapons. Seal team 6. So these were the guys who had taken over the mission huh? Swell.

"What are you doing here? We could have taken you out McGarrett! You're a civilian now."

"You couldn't take me out if you tried Styles and I am not a civilian, as you can see I am wearing a badge."

"Or I see that. So this is what you decided to do after you threw a mission and got kicked out of the Navy."

"I took a leave of absence Styles."

"If that's your story." Styles said mockingly.

"That's my story and if you knew what was good for you you'd stay out of my way. Five O has jurisdiction on this Island.'

"And I'd say you are delusional McGarett, but then again you've always been a little off. It figures why you'd have a friend turn terrorist.'

At that Steve saw red. "What did you just say to me?" He advanced, pushing Styles on the chest. Hard. Belligerent.

Styles pushed back, "Oh yeah? Bring it McGarrett."

"Steve." Chin got between them, stopping the fight. "Let's just go brah. This isn't helping." He said, pushing Steve out of the cabin.

'Yeah that's right, walk away." Styles said mockingly. "And stay away from my prey you hear?"

Steve wanted to go back for him but Chin stopped him. "The guy is a moron." Steve said .

"I can see that but you've always been the bigger man. Now let's focus on finding Danny." Chin said, reasonably.

They walked back to their chopper and back to HQ. They had nothing, again.

...

Do let me know what you think. See you in a bit.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9- But they are just little ones.**

 **Hey guys, as always, thank for the support. It 'em reviews coming. Here's another one. I hope you like and review.**

 **Ps- Imagine this song playing in the background.**

 **...**

 **Losing your memory -Ryan Star.**

 **Call all your friends**

 **And tell them you're never coming back  
Cause this is the end  
Pretend that you want it  
Don't react  
The damage is done  
The police are coming too slow now  
I would have died  
I would have loved you all my life**

...

They walked into the school building, dressed as janitors, nobody even suspected anything sinister. The school looked familiar though. When had he seen it before? And the kids they passed on the way. Little girls little boys. They were so little, so small, so innocent. So happy. And so oblivious.

He was with Madison. The guy was all about money, if not for his expect Tech skills with bombs and everything technical, Hassan would have done away with him a long time ago. The guy did not believe in the Cause. No he was all about the money. And he made sure that Hassan paid up. What was the Cause anyway? He wasn't even that sure himself. Except just 'make them cry'. 'Make them beg'. Why? He had no idea. He looked around at the school yard, the kids marching in and out. _'Make them cry'._

 _But they were just little ones._ His conscience kept screaming at him. But he also had to obey. He had to obey the Cause. He had to obey Hassan.

 _But they were just little ones._

He had never had any problems obeying. Why was this happening to him now? He was Tinman. He obeyed. He always did what he was told. And Hassan. He could not disappoint Hassan. There were consequences with disappointing Hassan. But he had never had to face those consequences. He was Hassan's right hand man after Jethro. He had killed Jethro, and he didn't know why he had done it. Just that he had to save that stranger. His conscience had won that day. For the first time in forever he had done something against his training, against what his brain told him. For the first time he had disobeyed.

He sure wasn't functioning well because ever since that day, he kept seeing that stranger's face. And his heart felt burdened. It hurt. He needed Hassan's medicine to make him well again. He didn't like feeling this way. His heart burned. It was not a good feeling. His head had been screwed up since that encounter and he didn't like the feeling. He was used to numbness, to nothingness. He didn't even feel anything for Hassan but nothingness. Hassan who was his brother and master. Hassan saw him as his pride and joy. Like he had created him or something. Nothing but his mind acknowledged that. And because of that he could not disappoint Hassan.

They walked into the basement of the building and started to set up. Madison was just humming and chewing a gum like he always did. Not really concerned about anything else but what he was doing.

"You know, this little baby does not need to be set in many places. She may be small but she'll take out this whole building." Madison said with a smirk, his hands busy with the bomb.

He just nodded, watching as Madison set up the first bomb in a school building. The first of six bombs. To be set up in five more similar places. Schools.

One detonator and all six schools will blow up at once. It was pretty genius.

He gritted his teeth and looked away a bit. His heart was waging war with everything he stood for. Everything he remembered standing for. The Cause. His Family. Hassan.

He shook himself and tried to concentrate on the work at hand. Hassan had trusted him with this job. Or maybe it was because he and Madison were blonds. No one would raise eyebrows. He had to make sure this job went well.

 _But they were just little ones._

"Hey pass me that wire will you?" Madison said, looking up for just a second to point at the wire.

He shook himself into reality and passed him the wire. He felt wrong doing that. Just passing a wire. He needed his meds. He shook his head in derision.

 _They are just little ones._

 _The cause._

 _They are just little ones._

 _Hassan._

 _They are just little ones!_

And he broke . He could not take it anymore. Could he do this?

Well Madison may be the expert with bombs but he had taught him a few things. And he was not about to let them kill these kids. He could not let that happen.

 _Six schools to blast. Make them cry. Make them beg!_

 _They are just little ones._

 _The cause._

 _They are just little ones._

 _Hassan._

 _They are just little ones. They are just little ones. They are just little ones!_

…

Two days later McGarrett was standing at his computer table with the team. But they were not the only ones. The guys from Homeland, CIA and the Navy were gathered around the table too. A Seal team had just returned to base from a couple of leads and they came up with nothing. Anxiety levels were running high. It was as if Hassan's group had some sort of motion sensor detectors or something because they were always a step ahead. Always moving. And no one had any idea where they were going to strike. Only that there was a grand plan in place and it was imminent.

Let's face it; Five O had very high tech equipment compared to anyone else on the Island. Plus they had one secret weapon. Toast.

After the Agencies had failed to triangulate the position of Hassan and his team,their representatives were now gathered at HQ hoping that maybe, just maybe they could get lucky with Five O.

Hassan must have a very high Tech guy erasing all their foot prints. They were impossible to track.

And here comes Toast, and he was all ready for a challenge. Plus this was 'Jersey', he had to help.

Now they held their breaths as another video was about to air. This tracking thing was going pretty slow considering all the powers that be of Law enforcement were involved. Army Intelligence, Navel Intelligence, Homeland Intelligence, whatever Intelligence yet Hassan and his people seemed to be just a tiny bit more intelligent.

Steve was praying that Toast would be able to get a lock on their signal before it was too late.

The video started airing and everyone held their breaths. They may have just failed. Another terrorist attack on US soil the likes of 9/11 was about to hit and they may have just failed to stop it. Again. That reality hit home so hard the atmosphere of despair was palpable. It was airing on National Television. Hassan had hacked all the television stations so he could transmit his message. The whole of America was watching this live on TV.

Hassan was holding a detonator, his eyes wild with an evil glee.

"Toast?" Steve said anxiously, not taking his eyes off the screen.

He could see Danny standing behind Hassan, looking into the camera. But his eyes were downcast. Like he didn't like being there. It hurt. He'd failed. He'd failed Danny. And now if they get their location, an airstrike had already been ordered. If somehow they managed to elude the authorities again Danny still became one of the most notorious terrorists in the world. And he didn't even know it. He was going to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, if he knew Hassan well, it was going to be thousands of innocent lives. And Danny didn't have a clue who he was. He was the guy who hated terrorism. The guy who would lose sleep at night because he had heard about one terrorist threat or the other on the news. The guy who would do anything to protect his family. His kids. The guy had witnessed 9/11 in a very profound way. And he would fight alongside the best of the best to get rid of monsters like Hassan. Now he was one of them. And he didn't even know it.

"Toast!" He said again, this time yelling.

"Give me a minute; we are dealing with someone with very advanced high tech skills here."

"We may not have a minute."

"Well you may not have it if you don't stop hounding me." Toast came back.

"You willl beg, you willl beg. Your childrren." Hassan was saying on the screen.

"Oh shut up bitch." Toast said irritably to the screen addressing Hassan but did not looking up from the work he was doing.

"He said children." Agent Breed from Homeland said as he stopped his pacing for a minute to concentrate on that tiny detail. His eyes met McGarrett's as they both came to the same conclusion. Breed started speaking to his people through his mouth piece, pacing again. Giving orders.

"Children, he said children! Go to every school do you hear me? Every school, play ground anywhere that children are known to play. I want the army and all police agencies on this one, now now now! Steve said to his own, wanting to run out and organize his people himself but could not move from the ongoing broadcast. He just started pacing all over the place.

"Lou and Chin were now standing on the side. Looking devastated. Chin no doubt thinking about his little niece, Sarah. He was now spotting his very 'unstoic' face on.

And Lou, well Lou had his hands on his head in despair and panic. His eyes were already suspiciously wet with tears. He had dropped his son at school that morning.

"Toast?"

"A second."

"Say good by to yourr childrren." Hassan said

"Toast!"

"I got it. I got the location." Toast said with panicked exuberance, and relief.

Hassan pressed the detonator.

…..

 **You're losing your memory, now**  
 **You're losing your memory, now**  
 **You're losing your memory, now**  
 **You're losing your memory, now**

 **...**

 **See you in a bit!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10- Run Tinman Run!**

 **Hey guys, so thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Mahalo. To answer most of your questions.**

 **Of course!' to some of you and 'of course not! to the others. Depending on your review. Some of you are way too much in my head. The prediction kings and queens.**

 **So lets see what happens shall we now,**

 **PS- Same song still playing.**

 **Ryan Star- Losing your memory.**

 **Where have you gone**

 **The beach is so cold in winter here**  
 **And where have I gone**  
 **I wake in Montauk with you near**  
 **Remember the day**  
 **'Cause this is what dreams should always be**  
 **I just want to stay**  
 **I just want to keep this dream in me**

 **...**

The whole room went still, hearts in their throats. They had failed again. Another terrorist attack on American soil and they had failed. Children. For Christ's sake, children!

Then something weird happened. The look on Hassan's face as he listened for the same sound they were all listening for. It never came. They saw Hassan's transition from mild disbelief to shock to embarrassment then outrage. Steve saw all that in that millisecond before the video went blank. All the Agencies were going crazy, alerts were going crazy everywhere and HQ was no better.

They all rushed out to see where the smoke was. There was nothing. No smoke, no sound. Nothing.

The whole of America was watching, hearts in their throats, and there was nothing. They waited, anxious, scared. It never happened.

...

Hassan pressed the detonator, then pressed it again. Nothing happened. Nothing was happening.

Such embarrassment, such utter shame he could not stomach. Nobody plays him like this, in front of the whole world and lives to talk about it. But this was a new one. A whole new level of shame. His fame, the fame he had planned for so long was now ending in utter shame. He was going to skin someone alive. He could not see clear with rage.

He cut the video quickly.

"Why is there no boom?" He asked, his eyes wild with rage. "Why is there no boom?! Where is my Boom?! Madison!"

"There should be. I did everything right." Madison defended, trembling. Then he turned and looked at Danny. "You were acting strange, what did you do?" He said, pointing a finger at Danny accusingly.

They all turned to look at him, Danny stood his ground.

"You obviously did something wrong, you're the expert on this. I never touched anything." Danny defended.

Hassan never took his eyes off him, looking at him suspiciously. "Madison never does anything wrong." He said, taking a step towards Danny, menacingly. "You've been malfunctioning of late."

Danny could feel them closing in on him. They were all looking at him. All eight of them.

Danny reacted quickly, instinctively, but most of all he had planned for this. Since the moment he tempered with the bombs he knew his time with this group was going to end one way or the other. With him down or every single one of these morons dead. And he would try his damnedest to make sure that he killed them, because it was either him or them. And if they lived then the children will surely die. He knew Hassan, and he will surely try again. Just to make a point.

With lightning speed his right hook connected with Hassan's jaw and he saw him reel back from the force of it. Then he kneed him in the stomach, quickly taking advantage of Hassan's now bent over shape he connected his foot with his face, again. The others were apparently shocked immobile because they just stood there, shocked at what he was doing. He grabbed his machine gun and started spraying bullets, at that time bullets were now coming from every which way for him. He made a run for it, ducking blindly as he made his way out.

He had anticipated this. He had planned for this. He had his own detonator in his hand, but he had to get as far away as he could so he could not be caught in the blast as well. But the crew was hot on his heels, bullets flying. He felt a hot piercing pain in his leg, he had been shot. And with the way this had suddenly turned into world war III, he had no way of winning if he stalled any further. He pressed the button and the power of the blast alone carried him up in the air. All went blank around him as he hit the ground hard.

...

Steve led his team through the jungle again, looking at his GPS to get the coordinates he had been given by Toast out of habit. They were all at this point just following the smoke. It was the same place they had seen the the dark thick smoke go up. It had been a tense weird moment. One moment they were waiting to hear a blast in the highly populated area of Honolulu, most likely a school. Then the next few minutes they heard it, but it didn't come from anywhere they had anticipated. It came from the jungle. What the hell just happened because that didn't make any sense. There was no one to bomb in the jungle. Hassan could either be an imbecile, which they all knew he was anything but, or his plan had been shot to hell. It didn't take them long to get to the jungle. They followed the blast. It wasn't too far in the jungle actually. Hassan's crew had been hiding right under their noses. It wasn't his team alone this time. It was everyone. The Army had set up a perimeter, the Seals were hiding somewhere in there, then CIA, Homeland, Swat.

The fire guys had to go first to put out the fire. Steve just held his breath as they all had to stand down while the fire guys dealt with the fire. Danny was in that fire. He had died in that fire. Had he caused it? Was he the one who had tanked the bombs? If so then how? Was his memory back now? Had he recovered his memory before he decided to do this? And killed himself in the process?.

He rushed in with the others as soon as the fire guys gave the clear. Bodies. Bodies everywhere. Some of the bodies were not that burnt but yeah, the people here were dead alright. No one within a 100 meter of that blast could have survived.

...

He woke up his head ringing and hurting like a sonofabitch. But he got up. Because if he stayed there a minute longer Hassan or those army people were gonna get him. He could see them but they couldn't see him. At least not yet. They were too focused on the blast, but he was already in the opposite direction. He just had to get up, be smart about it and drag his foot out of that jungle. He shook his head to get his bearing. He got up. He had to run. He had to keep going. He moved for a few minutes and he noticed that he was not going to go very far with a leg so busted, bleeding all over the place like that. He leaned against a tree and took a few heaving breaths. He ripped off part of his shirt and made a makeshift tourniquet around the wound on his leg. He started walking, dragging that leg as quick as he could manage. He knew where the main road was. He wasn't too far from there; he just had to be careful.

He half walked half ran for about a mile before he could see the road. There were many cars parked there, in a parking lot. It looked like a Mall or something, he had been here before, when he and Madison had gone to set the bombs in the schools they had passed by here.

He checked to see if there was anyone looking as he approached the parking lot undetected, so far. He went for a nice looking sports car. It looked like it could get him anywhere at top speed, and speed was all he needed. He knew how to drive a car, he knew how to hot wire a car. He knew how to do a lot of things by instinct or maybe by being taught, he didn't know. But he had never had anyone teach him how to eat or how to drink beer. He just didn't know who he was, where he came from, what he stood for. But he knew a whole lot of other things by pure instinct. Whatever they did to him it didn't completely render him incapacitated. They had even taught him how to make a bomb and how to unmake it. But they never needed to teach him how to use a gun. Somehow, he had known how to do that as good a he had known how to speak.

The car started and he breathed in relief. He pulled out of the parking lot and started driving. He looked in the review mirror and saw someone waving frantically for him for stop. It must the owner of the car; he had no time to think about that guy. He had to get away. He kept driving. He didn't know who he was, who to run to, where to go, but he just kept on driving. He had just blasted the only family he had known. He had no one.

...

Steve searched and searched yet Danny wasn't there. He kept searching frantically but his body wasn't there.

"Hey! I got Hassan. The son of a bitch is still alive!" One of the Seals yelled and they all rushed to him.

"The infidel. The damned infidel!" Hassan was yelling in rage. The guy had all kinds of injuries and half of his face burnt but he was still talking out of the side of his mouth. Well, talking was the only thing he could do now.

"Get the son of bitch out of here in cuffs; get him out of my sight." Styles said, taking point.

"No, wait a minute." Steve said, going to Hassan. "What infidel you sonofabitch? What infidel?"He asked anxiously.

"The infidel, he did this to me. I will kill him. Tinman I will kill you!" he yelled in rage.

Steve stood up in shock, the air leaving his lungs he couldn't breath. It was Danny. Danny did this.

Unfortunately Steve was not the only one who heard. "There's one missing. Follow every trace and take him out." Styles said to his team.

"Take him out? Are you kidding me?" Steve was outraged.

"I am not kidding. Neutralise the threat, those were my orders and unlike you I am not willing to let some terrorist run wild just because he used to be my friend." Styles countered. The bad blood between the two once again simmering.

"We got a blood trial. It's going to the main road!" Someone yelled.

"Follow it. Everyone your first priority is to neutralise the threat. Do you hear me?" Styles said, not taking his eyes off Steve. Challenging.

"Kono, Chin go." Steve said as he gave them a knowing look. They knew what they had to do.

Both Styles and Steve's radios transmitted at that moment, taking their attention for a moment.

"We had a vehicle jacking just a few minutes ago from the Mall's parking lot." The radio transmitted.

"That's our guy, set up a road block and pursue with caution and if you have to, take him out. The target is armed and dangerous." Styles ordered through his radio.

'You know what Styles, I've had it with you acting and thinking that you can come here and start to take point on my Island. And I've had it with you and this 'take him' out slogan of yours. This guy you are pursuing with such malice is one of ours, clearly. He just took out Hassan's entire team. Stop acting like you're the one who did it." Steve was now fuming.

"It could have been an operation gone wrong." Styles countered, unrelenting.

"It could be, but would you really want to take that chance? Take the chance of being the one who killed a hero?" Steve stressed.

"A hero?" Styles snorted derisively.

"Yes a hero. And I will not stop until the whole world knows that you're the one who killed the one person who saved their children today and took out one of the biggest terrorist groups in the world. I guarantee you you'll get more airtime with all kinds of hate messages than the guy who killed that lion in Africa."

"What was his name again?" Lou asked

"The guy?" McGarrett asked, distracted.

"No the lion."

"Cecil."

"What about the guys name?"

"Don't know, just the guy who killed Cecil."

"'The guy who killed the hero'. Not a good caption Commander." Lou said with a shake of his head at Styles who had been watching the exchange between Steve and Lou with ire.

"Call off your dogs Styles." Steve said threateningly.

Styles looked reluctant but he knew when he was beat. He spoke through his radio. "All units, pursue but do not engage. Do you copy? Do not engage."

"Copied Sir." Was the response

"Now, I am gonna take point on this one. I and my team and HPD will coordinate this situation. I know him, I know how to talk to him, he'll listen to me." Steve said to Styles who just nodded reluctantly. Coming to a somewhat fragile truce, they made their way out of the jungle.

...

This is unreal, McGarrrett thought as he drove the vehicle chasing after Danny. How could this be real? He was driving a car chasing after Danny. But through all of that Steve couldn't help but smirk at Danny's choice of vehicle. A sports car. So typical. So Danno. The whole of HPD had set road block ahead of him. They had already come out of their vehicles hiding behind their vehicles pointing their guns at Danny. Danny. The Army was there, guns ready and pointed at Danny. And the Navy for Christ's sake! And Steve was taking point on this one. As the only remaining terrorist threat, all guns where on Danny, who was now trapped with nowhere to go. Steve pulled out his own gun as he pulled up at the road block, Danny was blocked in, he had nowhere to run. He was trapped and Steve was there being part of that trap. It made him want to cry. Danny remained in the vehicle, unsure of what to do. And he was hurt, he had been injured. They had followed a trial of blood from the jungle to the main road. His blood. Steve could feel his loneliness at that moment; he could feel how lost Danny felt at that moment. With no help, with no one to count on. And Steve was here, but Danny couldn't remember to count on him. His memory was so warped he couldn't remember that he wasn't alone. It hurt him so bad that his brother was here, within reach and in trouble but he couldn't remember to count on him. Danny couldn't remember him and Steve was about ready to break down at that moment because he felt so helpless. Steve stood behind his own vehicle with a mike in one hand and a gun in the other. It was a gut retching pain, that he was pointing a gun at Danny right now. Danny who couldn't remember his place in the world. Danny who couldn't remember Him. And now the only memory he was gonna have of Steve was of him standing with the rest of the world against him, pointing a gun at him. It used to be them against the world more often than not. Now Danny was on the other side, alone. Danny had no one.

"We have you surrounded; get out of the vehicle now, with your hands up." He said, his voice weak and shaky. He could not summon the authority his voice is used to carrying. This was Danny and this was unreal. This was fucking unreal!

But he had to do it. For Danny's sake. He had requested to take point on this one and he will make damned sure that Danny made it out of this alive. He would have approached the vehicle and tried to negotiate, coax him into remembering, into surrendering. He might even pull that off because even if Danny didn't remember, he had saved his life back in the jungle a week ago. Something in him had remembered enough to save him. Yeah, Steve could take that chance; God only knew he wasn't thinking about himself right now.

That's why he didn't. That's why he took point, standing with the other law enforcers talking to Danny from a mike, like a stranger. He had to. Because If he approached Danny right now, who may or may not be open to negotiation, who may react in an unpredictable way, there was only one way that could go down. With Danny dead. Danny could try to shoot Steve, he might try to fight back, and he might raise his gun against Steve and Steve could not let that happen. Danny would get himself killed. Steve was not about to take that chance.

He looked at the other uniforms, waiting for him to fail, waiting for that single opportunity to open fire. The blood thirsty suckers. And Steve knew enough to know that though he was taking point on this one, it was only courtesy. There was no Five O jurisdiction now. This was a matter of National Security and he was surrounded by people who tolerated no failure.

"This is Commander Steve McGarrett, I am asking you to come out with your hands up. You are completely surrounded, surrender now." He said again, looking askance at the others, feeling the impatience. "There's no place else to go, come out of the vehicle now Sir." He tried being impersonal. But with each word he spoke he felt himself breaking. He was breaking.

There was no response, Danny didn't move. And Styles was beginning to fidget impatiently besides him.

"Danny." He whispered through the mike, his voice full of emotion. He didn't care anymore what the Military and the Navy and the goddamned Homeland Security thought. This was his brother.

His team just waited there with him, waiting for his lead, no doubt feeling the same apprehension.

He looked at the vehicle, he looked through, he could still see Danny sited in the car, not making a move.

"Danny please." Steve pleaded through the speaker, not caring how pathetic he sounded. No doubt the other Commanders were rolling their eyes. But he didn't care. He was now communicating with Danny at a level only he and Danny understood. It was not in the words but in the connection they shared. In the tone, in the emotions projected. It was with the heart. And amnesiac Danny or not, this language he was bound to understand. Steve prayed he would be able to understand. He held his breath, focusing on their connection. Communicating with him from that distance, using no words.

Suddenly the door was opened. Slowly, hesitantly Danny stepped out. He looked defeated. And Steve felt raw just looking at him. His leg shabbily bandaged by a piece of his shirt. The shirt that he wore now a half torn rag, with soot and mud and blood. His clear blue eyes no longer looked vacant. They looked confused and lost. He looked tired. Like he was done. With everything. Like he was done trying. Even done running.

He held his gun against his leg as he stood leaning on his good leg but not leaning on the car. He stood on his own, in his own strength. He was going to die like a man. Standing in his own strength.

Steve saw that in his eyes as clear as day. He saw it before it even happened. Because he knew Danny better than he knew himself. And he knew that look. The stubborn son of a bitch! Amnesia or not he was still Danno.

He moved, he didn't even know when he started moving, running towards Danny, because he knew what was about to happen. He saw it before it happened. He was yelling, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! Hold your fire!" He had to get to Danny, because he was about to do something stupid.

He saw it happen, Danny raising his gun at the general audience of police and armed forces.

"Don't shoot!" Steve yelled as he dived the rest of the way to tackle Danny down. But he was too late. A shot had already rang out. Multiple shots actually. God please don't let me be too late. He begged.

He landed flat on Danny and tried to covered him from the still flying bullets. He felt one it his back on his vest, then another not too far from the already hit spot on his back. He crawled up and covered Danny completely. He felt another hit him on the shoulder. That one he felt because it hit flesh. But he would not let go, he only hang on tighter. But his vision was blurring, his head spinning and it hurt like he had been hit by a tone of bricks. He'd been hit. In the head, no less. His speech was now coming out a little slurred. "Don't shoot. Don't shoot .Don't shoot." More to himself now since it was a little above a whisper. He heard someone screaming in the background, "Stop you morons! Hold your fire! Can't you see? Do you want to kill them? Huh? Is that your goal? That was your goal all along right?" She was hysterical. It was Kono. He could only hear it from a distance.

He could feel the hands of his team, Lou and Chin possibly, trying to pull him away from Danny, but he would not hear of it. He kept covering him, he kept shielding, and he kept chanting more to himself now as he was fast losing consciousness and he could feel himself losing his grip on Danny.

He held on tight, "Don't shoot, don't shoot. Please don't shoot." He was crying now, and he held on.

"He's my brother."

That was the last coherent thought he had. Possibly the last words out of his mouth as he pleaded against the darkness engulfing him. He was losing the battle but still he pleaded. He tried, he really tried. But eventually he let go.

 **You're losing your memory now**  
 **You're losing your memory now**  
 **You're losing your memory now**  
 **You're losing your memory**

 **...**

 **So there. If you liked or felt anything do let me know. Se you in a bit.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- Aftermath.**

 **Hey guys, thank you for the wonderful reviews and sorry for the cliff hanger hey. I am really not. You guys are great, thanks for the reviews and do keep 'em coming. Joyfuljaj guest, you had me with that 'bit' reference. I laughed so hard at that. Anyhoo, i hope this is a good enough fix for you. Little by little yeah? Patience.**

 **PS- imagine this song in the background.**

 **Tired eyes, maybe you've seen too much**  
 **Tired heart, every end has a start**  
 **If you find yourself in trouble, falling off the track**  
 **Would you come back**  
 **Would you come back**  
 **Would you come back**

 **Time will save you**  
 **You don't need to save yourself- By Turin Brakes.**

...

Danny was so sure about what he was going to do. He was sure. He had no one and nothing to live for. Given those options and the possibility of going to jail he would choose death. Yeah, he would go his own way and this was the way he had chosen. He got out of the car. That guy's voice calling him, made him feel unsure. It shook him a bit. Shook his resolve but only some. He made a point of not looking into that guy's eyes; there was something about them that made him not want to die anymore. He felt like he belonged, like he was needed but then again he had by now realized that he was a bit coocoo in the head. So yeah. But when was the last time anyone ever needed him? He ignored him and raised his gun, that was sure to do the job. And it would have had not Navy Ninja guy dove into him from nowhere. He found himself on the ground, with more than a hundred pounds on top of him. Bullets where flying, the guy got hit alright. Trying to protect him. That was really weird, it blew his mind. Then he had said something about him being his brother. He had a brother? Then everything happened at once, some chick police officer was yelling at the other cops to stop shooting as they ran to them. Yeah, there were others with her. Two more cops, obviously with this other guy. They had pulled him off of him and some ambulance people started working on him. What shocked him though was the fact these other guys seemed to be concerned about him too. Like they cared whether he lived or died. Asked if he had been shot, called the paramedics to work on him too. Why would they care? Just a minute ago they wanted to shoot him. Then the other police guys approached, still guns raised, one of them roughly took his hands and yanked them behind him to cuff him. That had hurt because he had caught one in the shoulder. And they were taking his attention from the guy whom the paramedics were now frantically working on. He found himself holding his breath for the guy, praying that he lived. Even in all that chaos that was his life he could not just dismiss it and feel indifferent. One of the good cops, an Asian guy nearly punched the cop who was cuffing him. "Get your hands off him, he needs medical attention too. He's in our custody now, we've got this?" It may have been delivered calmly but Danny could detect a threat in that simple statement.

They had gone with him to the hospital, stayed with him until he had been all sutured up. The little lady cop came to check in, called him by his name almost close to tears the first time she saw him and he had looked at her blankly, not knowing who she was. He could sense the disappointment at the lack of recognition but he liked her. She was nice. The two other guys kept checking on him, not leaving his hospital door outside. He was now getting a sense of how everything was here. They were all cops but they were not necessarily on the same side. These ones were protecting him from the other cops. He had no idea why but he felt safe when these two where around. He didn't feel so much like a prisoner. He wondered about the Navy guy but never asked.

he wasn't comfortable enough to talk. He showed no hostility though when those two were near, when they tried to talk to him he just didn't answer. He wanted to but he couldn't, not yet.

There was talk of a psych evaluation but the FEDS managed to elbow that out. They probably had their own experts on that. His two protectors tried to fight his early release from hospital and failed. But they did manage to convince them to take him to Five O HQ, wherever that was. If they recommended it then it should be safe, he was sure he would be safe, because they seemed to think so.

...

Steve woke up with a struggle; there was something he needed to do. Something. He didn't know what yet but he was sure he shouldn't be sleeping right now. He struggled to pry his eyes open, he felt weird, all groggy.

"Hey brah. How are you feeling?" It was Kono, standing up to come into his line of vision.

"I am in hospital?" He said in realization

"That's right. Do you remember anything?" Kono asked, concerned.

'I got shot?" He said, as images started to come to him. "Danny! Where's Danny?' He asked anxiously, starting to get up. "Kono where's Danny? Is he ...is he alright?" He was almost afraid to ask. He remembered bullets; he remembered diving in for Danny's cover. He didn't remember being able to shield him from the bullets though. Did he get there in time? Did he shield Danny or did Danny get hit? Did Danny get hit?

"Was he hit Kono? Where is he?"

"Relax boss. Danny is ok. You managed to shield him Steve. You took the hits. Yeah you had a vest but some went astray. You got hit in your shoulder and one grazed your head. Thank God it was just a graze Steve or we could have lost you."

Steve didn't really hear much of all the other things she said. Danny was ok. "Where is he Kono. Is he here? In the hospital? He should be in a hospital he had a gunshot wound on the leg and..."

"It's ok boss. Danny was here. He got treated for the wound and other minor scratches. We were with him the whole time but, well the Homeland and the other guys were there too you know."

"No no no no, they should not take him, don't let them take him Kono. I've got to go there now." He said, getting out of the hospital bed.

"Hey hey hey," Kono tried to stall him, "It's ok. Chin and Lou are with him now; they managed to convince the other guys to let him stay at HQ in the mean time. Sighting that it was more secure. They agreed. He's safe right now boss. Chin and Lou have got him."

Steve relaxed for a bit but he did not stop, he was getting out of there. And Kono understood why. They kind of actually needed him right now anyway. Danny was safe for now but it didn't look like that was gonna be the case for long.

"Boss, I think maybe you should wait for the doctor to clear you?"

"No, no time. I have to get to Danny."

"One more thing boss. Rachel is here."

"What? When? How long have I been out?"

"Two days. Danny just got discharged this morning and Lou and Chin are with him at HQ, in custody."

"Custody?"

"It's all over the news. Rachel got accosted by the paparazzi at the airport this afternoon when they landed."

"They?"

"She has the kids."

"Grace and Charlie?"

"You cannot imagine the chaos..."

"Oh my God."

"If you are good enough to go boss, we kind of need you."

"Let's go then. My God, what was Rachel thinking, bringing the kids here? Danny is in no condition to see anyone right now. He doesn't freaking remember! Its gonna crash those kids when they look at their dad and he doesn't remember their names."

"They haven't seen him yet. Like I said he's in custody and Rachel and the kids have checked into the Hilton. You have to go talk to them."

"You think?" Steve said irritably.

His head was now clearing a bit but it still hurt. Still he walked briskly out of the hospital. He had to get to HQ.

"And I think the Governor will like to see you. There are a couple of things..."

"Only a couple?"

"Ok, a lot. Concerning Danny, there could be something we can do."

"You don't say. Step on it Kono, we need to get there today maybe." He said impatiently, regretting the harsh sarcasm immediately. "Sorry Kono..."

"I get it boss. I get it. We are all feeling it."

They pulled up at HQ and he was shocked by the security outside and the media, the crowd. There was a crowd outside HQ and the soldiers and police where having a hard time controlling the crowd. He could only gape at the scene.

"Yep, that's what I was talking about. And that's not all. At least these are on our side. To them Danny is a hero. Its the FEDS that are the problem." Kono said, getting out of the car.

Steve was already way ahead of her, taking two steps at a time. He busted trough the doors to their offices. "Where is he?"

"Steve, man are we glad you're here. How are you feeling?" Chin said, walking up to him. Relief showing on his face.

"How's he Chin? Where is he?" Steve asked anxiously, taking in the unwanted guests in the room. The FEDS and Homeland hounds, the army, Styles and his team. What the hell was he still doing here? He hated the guy's guts.

"He's in the interrogation room. He's still under custody Steve and until we can prove..."

"In handcuffs?" Steve asked, dismayed.

"We had to."

"Chin."

"Steve, Danny is not in his right mind right now, he doesn't remember any of us, and to him we are the enemy. Not to mention he just took out Hassan and his entire crew so forgive us if we're a little cautious. Plus we have all kinds of eyes on us." Chin said, looking around at the CIA and Homeland guys making themselves at home in their offices.

Steve understood but still, Danny in handcuffs? In the interrogation room? It just wasn't right. Especially now knowing what they know. Granted, it was all still under investigation but it was all pretty cut and dry.

He walked in.

...

Now he sat in the somewhat dark room, having nothing better to do but think. He had just come from the hospital and everything was chaotic to say the least but he felt safe here. Yeah in handcuffs and all but as long as his two protectors were there he felt safe. The big guy kept coming in to offer him a drink here, something to eat there or to just chat him up a bit. He wasn't in a really chatty mood but he appreciated the gesture. For cops they were being really nice. The other one was quiet, protecting but quiet most of the time. He would catch him looking at him with such sadness in his eyes sometimes. Maybe he had known these guys; it's obvious they knew him. And this place felt safe, it felt familiar.

He sat there, thinking about all that had happened. How the Navy seal guy, the guy he had seen in the jungle a week ago, had taken a bullet for him. Danny had not felt indifferent, no he had felt scared when he was shot. He had felt him sag, losing consciousness yet still clinging to him, shielding. He had felt regret, fear. He had tried to stop the bleeding on his shoulder, instinct maybe. And the the gut retching fear in his stomach. He had put his hand on the wound on his shoulder but he noticed that his head was also bleeding. He'd been hit in the head too. For him. He had panicked, he didn't want him to die. Then he was being pulled off and everything just started going crazy again. He sighed heavily now, realizing the heaviness in his heart. He really wished the guy survived. Nobody had told him anything and he didn't ask. But he really wished that he survived. He never got to know him.

He looked up with a start as the door was suddenly opened and the Navy guy walked in. Larger than life but with a bandage around his head. And he was so glad he was alright. All he remembered was him being whisked away in an ambulance after being shot multiple times. Danny couldn't stop to wondering why he cared so much. The guy did take bullets for him. He looked at him as he walked in, he had bust in through the doors with his face screwed up into a fierce frown like he had aneurysm or something. He had looked at him and looked at the handcuffs and the aneurysm got worse. Then he looked into his eyes and his face just completely changed from scary to gooey, so fast it was like magic. His eyes became soft and pitiful like the time he had seen him in the jungle, He looked nervous now, unsure.

"Hey" He said in nervous greeting.

"Hey" Danny said right back; he even managed a nervous smile. He liked him. He liked this guy. He was...kind. Crazy but kind.

He smiled back then walked in, took a chair and set it right across from him. They stared at each other for a while, Danny wasn't sure what to make of what he was seeing in this guy's face, his eyes, but it disturbed him somehow. The pain in the guy's eyes. Danny felt like he was the one causing him pain. Then Navy Seal looked away as if calming himself down. He looked at his cuffed hands distractedly then back at him again, aneurysm face was back on.

"I am sorry about the cuffs. I'll take them off now." He said, getting up to uncuff him.

Danny just rubbed his hands where the cuffs had been, feeling a new sense of freedom.

"I...uh...my name is Steve, McGarrett. And...uh, your name is Danny Williams. You ...uh...you do know your name now right?'

Danny hadn't spoken to any of them since he met them, he hadn't said a word, mostly because it was such a chore at the moment, but he felt he had to make an effort for this guy. He felt like he was waiting for him to.

"Yes...thank you." He said hesitantly

At that Steve wanted to cry, it hurt so bad and at the same time made him feel so happy that Danny actually wanted to speak to him. He dipped his head a bit trying for calm. He didn't know it would still hurt so much. He didn't remember. He loved him so much and still he didn't remember. He wanted to give him a hug, any connection would do right now.

"Can I...may I take your hand" He asked hesitantly

Danny was surprised by the request but he didn't take long to think about it, he stretched his hand out slowly. He trusted this guy. He didn't feel threatened in any way.

Steve took his hand and placed the other one on top of it. He would not take this level of trust lightly. He was overwhelmed by it but most of all, Danny was alive, he was here. He could feel it.

"We missed you so much. I missed you. You were taken from us almost two years ago and we thought you were dead until about two weeks ago." Steve looked into his eyes as he explained, trying to see if any of it was registering. "We worked together here. You are a cop, a Detective. A very fine Detective and we were best friends. We were like brothers." He snorted as he thought about it. "We were brothers." He amended.

"Yeah?" Danny asked, intrigued. He had worked here? He had friends like these. His hand was still trapped in Navy's hands, but he felt safe.

"Yeah." Steve said with a smile. "You have plenty of friends and family, some of them you have already met. I'll introduce you to them when you're ready."

Danny just nodded, listening with intrigue.

"Danny I need you to clarify a few things for me. We have come across some information, rather some evidence indicating that someone may have tempered with the bomb set up at possibly a school here on the Island. Do you have any knowledge of that?"

Danny looked at him, not quite sure if he should answer but Steve's eyes didn't convey any sort of reproach so he answered. Unafraid.

"Yes, I... we set up the bombs, six bombs in six different schools, me and Madison. But I couldn't let them so I pulled out some wires."

"Why did you do that?"

"They were so small, they were little kids I could not do it. I could not let them."

"Is that why you bombed Hassan and the others?"

"Yeah, Hassan was really angry. He knew it was me." Danny couldn't stop talking, Steve's hand holding his like that made him feel like he couldn't hold anything back. "Hassan wanted to kill me for that. He was going to kill me and then set up the bombs again to kill those children. I could not let that happen. So I got away and bombed them instead." Danny was sure he was going to get in trouble for that but this was his truth and he felt he couldn't lie to Steve, even to protect himself. But instead Steve smiled, broadly.

"You did good Danny. I am so proud of you buddy. Now can you tell me where the bombs are planted?"

Danny told him easily, giving the exact locations of the bombs. Six. There had been six bombs meant to go off all at once. Hassan's plan had been pretty brilliant. Except he had kidnapped and brain washed the wrong person. You can wipe out the mind but you can't wipe out personality. You can't wipe out the heart.

"I love you, you know? No you don't but you will. You're so _you_ no matter what they do to you. I am glad you're back." Steve said, and Danny couldn't help but smile back. "With this evidence you're going to be a free man soon, just give me a few minutes to clear this whole thing up."

With that he got up and left the room.

...

 **Sorry eyes of those left behind**  
 **When we were kids do these thing we oblige**  
 **If you find yourself alone, with no need to call home**

 **Will you come back**  
 **Will you come back**  
 **Will you come back**

 **Time will save you**  
 **You don't need to save yourself.**

 **..**

 **And there. See you in a bit.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12- Baby steps back.**

 **Hey guys, thanks for the reviews as always. You have no idea but they put a big smile on my face. So keep 'em coming. Here's another one. I hope you enjoy and review.**

 **...**

Lou could not control the tears streaming down his face as the last of the bombs was carried out. The guy from the bomb squad had now taken off his suit seeing that there was no danger. It seemed the bombs had all been tanked. The same wire having been cut, deliberately. Lou's son would have died in that bomb. The last bomb was extracted from his school. And he would have surely died had that bomb gone off.

The bomb guy laid down the last bomb in a container and took a sigh.

"Phew, this was built to make a big mess." He said, looking almost admiringly at the set up of the bombs. The way they had been designed, one expert guy had done an incredible job here and it had to take another expert to temper with the bombs like that. He wasn't sure himself if he would have been able to disconnect the bombs so expertly like what had been done, because without expert knowledge these bombs would have gone off if one simple mistake was made while trying to diffuse them. The guy who tanked these bombs obviously knew his craft. Maybe he could come and work at the bomb squad, teach them a thing or two, seeing as he was now being hailed a hero. Word was going around, and rightly so.

Reporters were everywhere and it was a circus out there.

...

Kamekona tried to elbow and bully his way through the crowd, and he almost succeeded until he came at the boundary line set up by not just HPD this time but the freaking Army. You would think they were guarding Bin Laden in there, but come to think of it, it was kind of like that. His little haole was a terrorist. But not for long. He will be a hero soon, that's how it should work out. Kamekona knew a good business opportunity when he saw it. And Danny was going to be famous. People were going to start coming to Hawaii not only for the ocean and his shaved ice but to see a hero. The way things were progressing Danny was going to be like a fish in a zoo, a true world wonder. The guy had saved the freaking world, and the multitudes of people and media outside HQ attested to that. There was no hate in their eyes, they freaking worshiped him. And he was his ohana. He was what he would now call 'true connections'.

He was elbowed out by some army soldier. "This is where you stop Sir." The guy said sternly, with that robotic serious face.

"Hey, who do you think you are? I've got Ohana in there. Five O is Ohana to me, do you get that haole? I've got more right to be here than you." he complained but the guy dismissed him as if he were trash.

"Hey don't turn your back on me. Do you know who I am?" Yeah, he even tried that line. And the guy just looked at Kamekona's t-shirt for an answer, then just dismissed him. This was tougher than he had thought. Then he sported Steve, Kono and Lou making their way in. Lucky for him they were going to pass right where he was standing.

"Hey McGarrett, hey come and help a braddah out." Kamekona shouted.

"Hey big guy. What are you doing here?" Steve said, coming to stop where Kamekona was.

"Little haole is in there. You think I'd miss the circus? Now tell this haole brah that he's messing with the wrong Ohana." Kamekona said, looking derisively at the solder.

Steve just smirked, "He's with me." He said to the cadet, not looking back as he walked past the boundary line into HQ.

...

The media was outside HQ and there were so many other people gathered there wanting to see him. Danny felt so frightened by it he almost felt claustrophobic. While the investigations were still going on he had been released from the holding cell to interact with others in the offices. He was no longer a prisoner. Chin took him around the place, showing him around, what used to be his office. _His office_. He failed to comprehend it all. And the other guy, Jerry, who just followed them around looking at him like he was some sort of science experiment. He was nice though, but he didn't talk much. Except for a nervous and maybe tinged with a little awe "Welcome back Detective Williams." He pretty much just studied him.

Then Chin showed him photos and yeah, that was him alright. He had had a happy life. Whatever happened to him? When he finally got to see the photos of his children he wanted to cry. They were so adorable. There was Grace, she was an angel. An angel. And Charlie, wow, he felt so proud. His son. He swallowed hard because he didn't quite remember them. These wonderful blessings could not be his. He was a low life terrorist. He was Tinman, he did not deserve all this. It was all too much it overwhelmed him.

The others had gone to retrieve the bombs so it was just him and Chin left and of course the FBI and the others but they didn't matter. He could cry in front of Chin, he knew somehow that he could do that and not be judged. He looked up from the photos of Grace and Charlie to see that Chin had a shimmer in his eyes too. He understood. "Its ok brah. It will come back to you." Chin said, with a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He walked to stand at the window in his office and looked outside. There were so many people outside the building, some holding placards written 'hero', it was nice. But it was all too much. And it made him feel all the more unworthy.

Chin noticing it took him away from the window and led him to the kitchen. He made him coffee and some of the most amazing doughnuts he had ever tasted. He called them Malasadas, said they used to be his favorite. Danny didn't talk much but he really appreciated Chin's company. He felt like he was with family. And Chin didn't seem to mind his unchatty mood, he was very patient. Talked all the time about the old days, days they had shared. Memories he may probably never get back. He listened attentively, taking in what seemed to have been his wonderful life. He was pretty sure he would not be able to recognize the _him_ that Chin was describing. He seemed to have been a different guy.  Different being the understatement of the year.

He was starting to feel comfortable when the others walked in. Steve, Lou and that bad ass pretty fox who had been screaming her lungs out when the police had been shooting at him and Steve. He stood up abruptly, unsure as he looked at them. Lou had tears in his eyes and he just froze when the man advanced towards him with a look in his eyes he could not describe. Maybe his time of freedom was over, he thought. Then Lou just enveloped him on a bear hug, the guy was big. Danny was taken aback and he wasn't used to it. Then after a while the guy let him go, looking him in the eyes with teas still streaming down his eyes.

"Thank you Danny. Thank you man. Thank you for being kidnapped and being part of that terrorist group. Because God only knows if you hadn't been there those bombs would have surely gone off. And my son would have died. You saved my son man, and I'll forever be grateful." Lou said, and it all just overwhelmed him. Lou had a way with words but yeah, the delivery was good. The others were looking at him with smiles on their faces. Then Kono stepped forward with a watery smile too. She looked into his eyes and something in her eyes changed, disappointment maybe. She could obviously see that he didn't recognize her. She visibly tried not to cry.

"Hi, Danny. I am Kono. I am sure you don't recognize me."

He was at a loss, he just nodded and supplied a hesitant, "Hi."

At that Kono bit her lower lip to try and stem the tears from falling, no luck. They dropped unchecked.

"Can I give you a hug too?" She asked hesitantly. He gave a subtle nod and she walked closer and enveloped him in a hug. She held him for a long time and he held back. She smelled nice.

"Thank you. And welcome back. We missed you brah." She said, stepping back from him.

"Yeah bradah. Welcome back little hoele. My favourite haole." The big guy who was wearing a T shirt with his face on it said, stepping forward to give him a crushing hug too. "Don't tell McGarrett I said that." He whispered.

"I heard that Kamekona. Your voice carries." Steve said with a smirk. He kept a distance from the others and all the welcomes and hugs going around. That seemed a little strange to Danny considering he was the one who had given the most for him .The guy almost died for him, took bullets for him and now he just stood at a distance , uninvolved. That confused him and it somehow hurt. Because he'd missed him. He was the one person in this whole group whom he really felt he knew. Though he didn't remember him, he knew him. Somehow.

...

Steve felt an overwhelming sense of relief, they had won the war. They had come out of it alive. Danny had come out of it alive. And he wasn't going to jail. He was a hero. He sighed, not quite believing how it had all turned out so well. Not quite sure how to express his gratitude. He was sure he was going to sleep peacefully for the first time in a long time. A very long time. It was over. He looked over at all the welcomes and the hugs going around. It was a happy moment but he was sure that it was all overwhelming Danny a little bit. It was still clear in his eyes that they were all still strangers to him. And going around giving him hugs maybe too much in his fragile state. He didn't discourage it though; pretty sure he was just being over protective. But he kept himself at a distance, just to give him space. That, and also that having Danny back like this was a bit overwhelming for him too. He suddenly didn't know how to deal with it. He needed a moment. And a drink.

He snuck out to the balcony seeing as everyone was pretty occupied at the moment. He leaned over the rails looking out at the lanai. The back of the building seemed to be the only place not covered by myriads of people. He turned to take in the scene inside, his whole ohana back together again. He smiled and then he noticed how lost and uncomfortable Danny looked while he tried to take in all the activity going on around him. His throat suddenly felt dry. Danny was back. Thank God. But he wasn't quite Danny yet. He had a long way of recovery to go and he didn't know how to help him. He would try; he will do everything for him. He turned and looked at the lanai again, took out his little bottle and took a swig. He took a breath, he felt calmer now.

He heard or rather felt a presence behind him and quickly hid his little bottle in his pocket before turning with a schooled smile on his face to confront whoever had followed him out to the balcony. He was taken aback a little; he didn't expect Danny to be the on standing there with a hesitant smile on his face. He had followed him on his own. That was a lot to take in. Steve just froze, not quite sure what to say now.

"Hey." Danny said first, it was so fragile, so hesitant like he wasn't too sure of his reception and that stung just a little. Steve had to remind himself that Danny wasn't Danny yet and that he didn't remember.

"Hey." Steve said, "Uh... tired to the party already?" He asked with a nervous laugh.

Danny smiled, "It's a little too much for me right now. It's so much to take in."

"Tell me about it." Steve said with a smirk. "Care to join me out here?" He invited, indicating the chairs. They both took chairs facing the garden outside. They sat there for a while without saying anything.

"You want a beer?" Steve offered, wanting to get up to go and get some.

"Not right now thanks." Danny responded.

Steve just nodded and relaxed back in his chair, taking in the scene outside, but he didn't feel tranquil. He felt nervous, pressured. Danny was sitting right next to him and he had nothing to say. He could think of nothing to say to break the silence and he couldn't quite summon the comfortable silence that used to be their normal, way back when.

"I...uh," Danny started, then cleared his throat, "I wanted to thank you for saving my life." He half turned in his seat towards him and Steve did the same but Danny's eyes never rose to meet his. He looked somewhere on his shirt as he addressed him. "I had no way out and you...you risked your life to give me one." He shook his head in wonder as he contemplated it. He still could not quite understand it. Then he looked up and found his eyes, "Thank you." It was simple but the whole meaning of it was transparent in his eyes.

Steve swallowed the lump that was suddenly there in his throat again, "I know you don't remember Danny but believe me when I say that you would do the same for me. In a heartbeat. It's the way we are. Maybe we are each other's achilles heel, i don't know." He looked at his chest remembering the incision. "You're my weak spot. You are. And i am yours. What i'ld do for you. What we'd do for each other Danny..., it scares me sometimes." He sighed and tried to get his full attention. "We're brothers and no matter how bad it gets, that will never change. I really want you to know that." He looked away for a bit to calm down, then looked at his stomach in the direction of the incision of the liver transplant again. Danny obviously didn't remember that. All in good time. He tried an example of something he knew he would remember. "Hell, you saved my life in the jungle even when you didn't remember who I was. It's the way we are Danny. You never have to say thank you. Not to me."

Danny nodded, "Thank you." He said again and Steve just smirked at that. Danny had just left himself open for a snarky come back right there. Back in the good old days Steve would have taken it. Starting with a "What's wrong with you?" or something like that. But this was not the good old days, at least not yet. So he just nodded and added his own, "Thank you too, for saving my life in the jungle."

Danny nodded in acknowledgement, still looking down.

"And thank you for coming back." Steve said meaningfully. He sighed and looked at him earnestly.

Danny just looked back at him, seeing how it meant for him that he was back but not quite understanding why it would be so important to him. He didn't remember how important he was. He didn't understand. So Steve let it go.

"Hey, how would you like to stay with me for a bit while you recuperate and get yourself in order? I have plenty of room. And frankly you don't got nowhere else to go." He said attempting humor. And it worked. Danny smiled.

"And fyi, you happen to like my couch very much." Steve said jokingly

Danny raised an eye brow. "Is that right?"

"That's right buddy."

...

 **So there. See you in a bit.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13- Indiscriminate.**

 **Hey guys. So this story is about to close, just one or two chapters left. Thanks for the reviews and support. Here's another chapter. I hope you like and review.**

...

Steve wiped his sweaty palms as he got up the courage to knock on the door of the hotel room at the Hilton. He had been stalling this meting for a while. Since Rachel flew in with the children he had not found the time to come visit. Kono had been the one to pick them up from the airport, protected them from the media frenzy. And now that things had died down a little, he felt it was time. He held his breath, preparing himself to meet Grace for the first time in forever.

The door opened and it was Rachel who opened the door.

"Steve." She said, and he just stepped forward to accept her embrace. He knew the questions she had but having been unable to go anywhere because of the media frenzy she had not seen Danny by now. He just held her for a while. Everything was going to be better now. They were unlikely to be attached by the media and the people now, like what happened at the airport when they landed .Danny was officially a hero.

"How is he?" She asked as she stepped back.

"He's... uh, he's getting better. His memory is still, you know, he doesn't..."

"I know, but he's aware...?"

"Yeah, I've told him about all o' you guys, showed him pictures, told him stories. He's ready I think. I don't know Rach, you shouldn't have come here. At least not just yet. I heard you ran into some trouble at the airport?"

"Yes, i know what you mean Steve. But I thought we might just as well be here you know. After Grace got egged at schooled." She said

"Grace got egged at school?" Steve was shocked. He had no idea they had gone through all that because of this. He wanted to dismantle whoever had done that to his sweet little niece. Granted she wasn't so little anymore, but still.

At that moment Grace came in from the other room and froze when she saw him. He froze too. He had not expected to feel so emotional when he saw her. She had grown into a beautiful little lady. She let out a sob as she ran smack into his arms. He held her close.

"Uncle Steve." She said, her voice muffled by his shirt.

"Gracie." He choked out

The moment was broken as Charlie came bouncing from the other room. He squealed with excitement as he ran to him for a hug. "Uncle Steve!"

Steve picked him up and winced, "Hey buddy, wow you've grown buddy."

He walked into the room with Charlie clinging to his neck.

...

Danny was boggled to find that he was not going to get any reprimand. After sessions of endless psych evaluations they had concluded that his memory was a wiped slate. He had nothing. He had been wiped clean. So no jail time, no nothing, he was a free man. What more? He had a family. That was kind of overwhelming. More overwhelming than the guy who was always hovering over him, 'can I get you anything? Do you need anything'? He didn't need that. He didn't deserve that. The people he had wanted to hurt, the people he had set out to kill were the same people who were jittery around him they didn't know how to curb their excitement. And hailing him a hero, no less. He knew what he was, he knew what he had been and no friends should be around him. Most certainly no family. But Steve..., he had learned his name now, learned how to say it. It was easier than he would have thought; Steve wouldn't let him out of his sight. The guy would even follow him to the Jon, just to make sure he was alright. Just to make sure he didn't need anything. Somehow Danny knew that Steve meant well. He didn't feel like he was in a cage, no. Just maybe overprotected that's all. All that attention, he was not quite sure he deserved it. In fact, he knew he didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve being here, feeling so rested. He didn't deserve rest. He deserved punishment. He would run but he had nowhere to go. And he would maybe wait a minute to take in this little heaven. It was easy with Steve, because he could trust him. He didn't have to think about it, he just did.

Today, however, today he wanted to run. He was meeting his kids today. And he didn't know he could have the balls to stand there and pretend that he was normal. He didn't even know how he was gonna react. Will he know them? Will he recognize anything about them? Today he felt like the terrorist monster that he was. He had been staying at Steve's since he was released as a citizen. The board was actually sitting on his story, deliberating if they would name him a hero? At least his kids didn't have to duck their heads in shame anymore. Silver lining.

He waited nervously in the living room, the guests, his team, were going to start showing up anytime soon. Surprisingly though the first person to show up was someone he didn't know. Or at least hadn't met yet. The guy was a scrawny looking thug, with ridiculously long hair. The way the guy was walking up Steve's drive way, like he was staking it or something, he looked like a threat. His family was coming in today; he had to make sure that every threat was taken care of. Danny knew where Steve kept his extra stash of guns in the living room; the guy had guns everywhere, in every possible hiding place. He stealthily walked to a cabinet and got a 9mm. Just in time as the guy opened the door.

"Don't move." Danny said in a very still lethal voice.

The guy raised his hands up in surrender and looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. Well, news flash new guy.

"Steve!" Danny shouted. He had to be near, just in the kitchen somewhere.

"Heyy McGareett!" The guy also shouted for Steve's attention, hands still in the air.

Steve came running, "What? Oh." Steve said, as he took in the scene.

"Ey McGarrett, help a bradah out. Your boy is being unfriendly here."

"Friend or foe?" Danny asked, gun still pointed at the intruder.

McGarrett seemed to consider it for a bit to the guy's continued chagrin.

"Foe..." Steve replied and turned as if to go back to the kitchen. Danny corked his gun and pinned the guy with a dangerous stare.

"Mcgarrett!" the guy said in dismay, hands raised a little higher.

"...until recently when he became a friend, of sorts." Steve said, he was completely enjoying this.

"Of sorts? Man I thought we was Ohana man." The guy complained. "I saved your ass more times than I can count, and this is how you play me?"

Steve snorted, "Saved my ass? I seem to remember that you were the one bleeding all over my kitchen floor last I saw you Sang Min. I saved your ass."

"Hey, do we have to drench up old wounds man? Now tell your boy to lower his weapon, I am ohana."

Steve smirked, "He's good Danny." He said but Danny had already lowered his weapon seeing the good-natured banter going on.

"Hey Detective." Sang Min said, taking a step towards Danny. "I guess I have to introduce myself again seeing as you've gone all coocoo in the head. You see, you and me were like besties. Real tight brah." He said with show of hands joined together.

Danny wasn't buying it, "Yeah?"

"Oh yeah. And seeing now that we have so much in common, we're even gonna be tighter."

"Alright. What do we have in common?"

He made a swipe at his hair, "Well it's unfortunate your hair is all cut up, but the other, the other is our mutual criminal records man."

Danny didn't even bulk at that, he knew he was a criminal, he had known it from his first look at him. "Oh yeah?"

"Danny meet Sang Min, human trafficker and all round criminal." Steve said in introduction.

"Former, McGarett, former human trafficker." Sang Min stretched his hand to shake Danny's. Danny took it, sceptical. "And you're a terrorist. Former terrorist my friend. We should trade stories of our famous misadventures of the other side." Sang Min said with enthusiasm..

Steve snorted and turned to go back to the kitchen, "If he gives you any trouble shoot him Danno."

"Eyy McGarrett, why are you being so unfriendly. We are ohana man." Sang Min complained as he settled comfortably on the couch.

...

The whole team was out on the lanai, braaiing, and drinking beer. It was a celebration of some sort. He'd only been living at Steve's for two day and they were already throwing him a party. Well granted it was a way to also welcome his family and he couldn't exactly say no to that. Truth was he didn't feel like he deserved any of it. He had done things when he was still with Hassan's crew, terrible things. Some of the things, most of the things he couldn't quite remember, Hassan had always managed to dose him up with his special medicine, but he knew they were terrible. And he didn't feel like he belonged. He felt dirty. Of course his friends would not hear of it. Yeah he knew them to be his friends now though he didn't quite remember them from before. It was an assorted group, law enforcers and criminals all under one roof, his friends. Kono's husband was a former mafia thug. Toast, who would only address him as Jersey, a millionaire former cyber criminal, Hursh, a conman and not to mention Sang Min. Then Deputy Dog, he didn't know what to make of that guy, he was a cop? Besides, it turned out everyone on the five O team had a record or such. Steve had been in jail for a while, something to do with the Governor.

In light of all this he could manage to feel less out of place. He had a feeling that was what his friends had hoped for with this type of get together. He wasn't so out of his league here.

The doctor had said his memory was going to start coming back with the medication he was taking now and the psych evaluations and therapy. His memory wasn't back but he was nervous to meet his family.

He was pacing frantically as the time drew nearer. Kono had gone to get them; they were on their way to him now. Steve had gone and spoken to them the previous day, said they were excited to see him. Steve had prepared them for his rather short memory and he said they were ok with it; they just wanted to see him. He had never felt so nervous.

He had excused himself to go to his room and Steve found him like that, pacing, at the verge of a panic attack.

"Hey hey hey, buddy you're not holding up too good are you?" Steve said, stepping inside the room.

Danny looked up at him, "I don think I can do this."

"Hey, calm down, you can do this. I promise you, you'll love meeting your family man. They are so excited to see you."

"See that's just the thing Steve, I can't be the person they used to know. I don't deserve this. I don't deserve any of you guys and I have to stop pretending like I belong..."

"Hey hey, what are you talking about?"

"I am a terrorist Steve, I tried to kill children for God's sake and I have done terrible things and..." he could not stop himself, he was on a roll. His guilt spilling out and he couldn't stop pacing.

Steve was dumbfounded that this was how he felt. He had thought Danny was getting used to them, to all of this. He didn't know he felt this way. He walked towards him and put his hands on his shoulders to stop him from his frantic pacing.

"What nonsense are you sprouting now Daniel, you belong here. You belong with us. Man, you're a hero. Two weeks from now you're gonna be receiving the highest medal given to man in this country. The medal of Honour Danny. The President of the United States is coming here to present it himself to you. Why, because you saved those children Danny. You didn't kill them. Even when you were brainwashed, you couldn't kill children Danny. Now show me a better hero. Because I can't think of any in my book." Steve said earnestly but Danny still didn't look convinced.

"Come here," Steve said, pulling him to sit him down on the bed. "Sit down for a minute and try to calm down."

"I can't calm down." He said, panicked

"Yes you can, yes you can." Steve coached, sitting next to him. "Now talk to me. What's going on that head of yours? Hm?" He noticed how he was wringing his hands together, "Take a deep breath, slow and easy, that's right. And stop that." He said, putting his hand over his to stop him from wringing his hands. "Focus on me, now talk to me. What are you thinking?"

Danny finally calmed a bit as he took a deep breath. "I...I don't know. This all feels...'

"What? Feels what?"

"Like it's not really me. I mean all of a sudden I have these wonderful people in my life, I have a freaking family man." He took another sigh, "Its just too...just a few days ago I was a terrorist. Do you have any idea how that feels?"

"No I don't. I won't lie to you. But I have an idea about how it feels to lose you Danny, to think that you are dead for almost two years and then have you back again. I have an idea how that feels and even if you had not managed to save those children Danny, we would have still loved you. So don't think that any one of these wonderful people are not genuinely glad that you're back. We're overwhelmed by it. Now imagine how your children would feel to finally see you again? Try and imagine that for a minute. You were kidnapped and brainwashed and right now the whole world is still trying to figure out how the hell you could break out of such a strong hold and still be able to do the right thing. Most people are unable to do the right thing with their minds at full capacity. But not you Danno. Believe me, it's nothing short of a miracle." He looked earnestly at him as he tried to get through to him. "Whatever you may have done while you were under their influence Danny, whether you remember it or not, we will still love you. You got that right? Because that's what family does, that's what family is. And we're family."

Danny nodded; he was now listening to him.

"But buddy, if you're not ready yet, we can cancel the whole thing. We can always do it another day. Just say the word." Steve said,

"No, no...I uh, I can do this. I can do this." Danny said, drawing some of his courage. "You'll be with me right?"

"Always buddy. Always." Steve said, honoured that Danny trusted and depended on him like that. At the same time he felt like he was lying. He will never always be there for Danny. God only knows he had failed so many times. And he failed so dismally that last time. Seeing Danny now, looking at him without his memory, what he'd been through. Steve was unable to do anything about it. Unable to prevent that from happening to him. Now he looked like a shell of himself, no memory, no sense of belonging. Hell, the guy had wanted to kill himself because he didn't know he had any reason to live. And it was all because Steve had not been there that fateful night a year, eight months and sixteen days ago. He had failed his brother and he was having sleepless nights about it. He looked at Danny now, everything had worked out. Danny was back and Steve wanted to cry. And he needed a drink right about now or he was going to choke on his own tears.

...

He felt a bit calmer now, after Steve's pep talk but he could not stop wringing his hands. The time had come. Kono had just pulled up with his family in her car. He was about to have a full blown panic attack had not Steve noticed it and took a stand by his side, talking him down. Saying it was all going to be ok. He could do this, and some such other things he failed to register when the door was opened and he came face to face with the most angelic face he had ever seen. His heart soared. Somehow he knew who she was. His heart knew. And he wanted to cry. They stared at each other for a very still heart retching moment and then the little lady ran to him with tears in her eyes. She flung herself at him and held him tight.

"Danno." She whispered, heart breaking.

He held her tight and laid his head on top of hers.

"Monkey." He whispered. He knew that by heart. This was why monkeys made him want to cry. This was his 'monkey'. He just felt tears streaming down his checks as he felt the little teenage girl shake with sobs in his arms. It was all so heart breaking, he wanted so much to stop her heartache.

"It's ok Grace. It's gonna be ok." He said, trying to calm her. He knew her from the photos and he knew her name from coaching. But that name sounded so familiar on his lips. It was so dear. A name so sacred. He knew that from the bottom of his heart. He bent and placed a kiss on her head as she refused to let go of him. Finally they let go and just looked into each other's eyes. He was home.

All of a sudden a little boy tore into him like a hurricane. "Danno! Danno! Daddy!" He shouted as he dove into him.

"Hey buddy!" Danny said with joy as he lifted up his son into his arms. The little guy wound his arms around his neck and burrowed his head into his neck. He held him tight and Danny could only look up at Steve with tears in his eyes, no words to say. This was so much, it was too much. He was in heaven and he didn't know how he had qualified to get there. His heart felt like it would break from the sheer joy and emotion in it. It couldn't handle this much.

Steve just nodded at him, telling him without words that he could do it. It was ok. It was all real. And he had a sheen of tears in his eyes too. Everyone in the room had suspiciously wet eyes.

"Hey buddy. Charlie. My son." He said in a whisper, in awe. He clutched him tighter.

He finally let him down, Steve taking over, taking the little guy into his arms to give him time with Rachel. She stepped forward hesitantly and he finally got a good look at her. His wife. Ex wife, he corrected himself.

"Rachel." He said, testing the name. She just flung herself into his arms and held on tight. She was trying hard not to cry, she didn't want to overwhelm him but she failed. Tears just ran freely as she held him. He was back. They had been well on their way to getting back together when he had been taken. And if she was going to be honest with herself, especially at that moment, she had never really truly loved another man.

"Daniel." She whispered.

Danny drew her close, not quite sure if he should, but it felt right. Like he had a right to. He basked in her embrace, taking most of her weight. It felt familiar. It felt right.

...

They were now gathered outside, gathered around a bonfire near the ocean. Everyone laughing and joking and yeah, it was heaven. Chin and Lou were still at it, competing at braaii. Danny just looked at them and allowed himself to laugh. He allowed himself to relax. He looked at Steve and he looked as rested as he was. Everything had gone better than they had expected. They looked at each other and he mouthed a thank you to him. Steve just nodded and raised his beer at him.

Danny looked down in his arms where Charlie had fallen asleep. Grace was clinging to his arm and talking to Kono about something. He looked over at Rachel who was on his other side and she just smiled at him. He was home.

...

 **Its mushy but...uh...its not over yet. Do review and see you in a bit.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys, again thanks for the reviews. Keep 'em coming. Really.**

 **No here's another one. I hope you like and review.**

 **PS- This song is just gold for Steve and Danno. It describes them too well.**

 **Brother-by Kodaline.**

 **We've taken different paths**  
 **And traveled different roads**  
 **I know we'll always end up on the same one when we're old**  
 **And when you're in the trenches**  
 **And you're under fire I will cover you**

 **[Chorus]**  
 **If I was dying on my knees**  
 **You would be the one to rescue me**  
 **And if you were drowned at sea**  
 **I'd give you my lungs so you could breathe**

 **I've got you brother-er-er-er**  
 **I've got you brother-er-er-er**

 **...**

Steve took Danny to the bridge, the place where he supposedly died, the same place he had loved; to try and jog his memory. Maybe something like that would do the trick. He was getting a little of his memory back. More in the sense of familiarity than real recognition. He had recognized his family. Grace, he had known Grace without really knowing her. She felt right in his arms, and he felt like he belonged, he felt needed. And Charlie, he had held him for so long. He remembered being responsible for another human being. He remembered being a father. It didn't feel alien. He had held Rachel close and he had wanted to kiss her. He remembered that he could do that. More like he had a right to do that. Yes, she was his ex, he had been told but maybe they had been married for a long time. His reaction to Rachel was totally different from his reaction to Kono. He liked Kono, even loved Kono and thought she was beautiful but he didn't feel like he could just go ahead and kiss her. With Rachel, it had been different. It felt familiar.

He was feeling equal, _almost_ equal to his colleagues now, but he always felt like he had no right to. They upheld the law and he was a terrorist. He would always maybe feel like that. Tainted. But he was surrounded by people who loved him and he didn't want to let them down. Now he stood standing over the rails of that bridge looking over at the ocean. It was nice. But he didn't remember it. Steve had said that the bridge didn't use to have rails and he had loved sitting on it with his legs dangling over the ocean. It had been his peaceful place. He could see why, and he could also see how Steve was so hoping that this place could trigger his memory. But it didn't. The place was nice though.

Steve, seeing how Danny didn't even react to any of it, couldn't help letting his despair show, he dropped his shoulders. It hadn't worked, again. And he felt so responsible for this.

"Danny I am sorry. I am so so sorry." He was literally begging for forgiveness, his throat clogging again with unshed tears.

Danny looked at him confused, "For what?"

"For not getting to you in time. For letting this...all of this happen. I don't know man... I should have made sure you got home safe from the office that night. I should've...I shouldn't have left you alone to finish paperwork, I should have convinced you to come with me...,"

"Steven stop. Ok, stop this. I may not know anything of what happened in the past but I do know this, whatever happened to me was in no way your fault. I think it happened in spite of you." He said earnestly, looking at him. "I haven't known you for long but I have seen how protective you are, especially of me. How protective you are of my family. Look, I know I don't remember the times we shared when I was still _me_ , but I do remember you."

"You remember me?" Steve asked, surprised.

"I don't think I ever forgot. I remember that I can trust you with my life. And I depend on you to always have my back. I remembered to not shoot you in the jungle because I knew that I knew you and that I cared about you. I don't remember but I do know you. A part of me never forgot." Danny said

Steve wanted to cry, that had touched him so deep he wanted to just cry. Instead he turned his head away and out of habit reached into his pocket to take out his little whiskey bottle. That's what he always did, without knowing it he would reach for that bottle every time he felt he was about to get overwhelmed with emotions. He was never one to cry much. He didn't like it. He made to take a swig when he felt Danny's hand on his, pushing it down from his mouth. He was a bit startled by that familiarity and by the fact that he had been so out of it he had dared to take the bottle in front of Danny like that. No one knew about his drinking habit. Or at least that's what he thought. Maybe he hadn't thought Danny would care. Since he practically didn't know him.

Danny put hand on his and pried the bottle from Steve's hand. "I don't think you need to continue doing that anymore. I may be amnesiac but I don't think that's such a good habit. And I don't think that's really you." Danny said, a little reprimand in his voice.

Steve looked longingly at his little bottle as it was taken from him and felt ashamed. He looked away. He had fallen so far, so short and he felt ashamed. He sighed, "I am sorry Danny. It's just...when you 'died'...it did a real number on me buddy. I know this may come as an excuse but...I've lost so much and you were just the last straw... you're my brother Danny. You're all I've got and...I don't know, I just couldn't take it anymore. After losing so much I just couldn't take it anymore. It was too much." He choked now, tears threatening. "The whiskey...it helped. One night i found myself with a bottle and...well that was that."

"You have a life Steve. You have family, friends. You should have gone on with your life. Even without me Steve, you should keep going."

"Who says I want to?" Steve said meaningfully. "And your death scared me so much i was afraid of losing any more. I just...felt like...like maybe something was wrong...with me. And i wanted to save everyone else close to me... from me. By being away from them. My sister Mary, the team...i mean...everyone i love seems to be in danger by being associated with me.

"Come here." Danny said, pulling him in for a hug. They held each other for a long time. Danny held on tight as Steve finally let it all out and cried. He had needed that. He had needed to not hold it all together anymore. He had needed for someone to hold him instead. Danny could feel his own tears streaming down his face. Because this felt familiar. At last he was home. He belonged.

After a while they both stepped back. "I am sorry." Steve said now, wiping his tears. He felt lighter, but he didn't like crying. He had never liked it.

"I am sorry too." Danny said, and then they just grinned at each other.

Steve marvelled at how familiar it all was. Almost like old times. Danny was back.

"I'll help you with this one." Danny said, gulping down the drink left in the bottle. Knowing somehow that throwing the bottle away with its contents was not going to help Steve much. Steve was an alcoholic; he knew that much and drinking the liquor for him would provide some sort of closure for him. He finished the drink, shook it to show that there was none left inside then threw the empty bottle into the ocean. They both looked on as the little bottle floated away in the water.

"Time to let it go now." Danny said.

Steve nodded and swallowed with difficulty, feeling the tremors start, his hands shaking. "Yes." He said with resolve.

'You've helped me with my Psyche thing, going to therapy with me and all that. I will help you with this. We'll do it together." Danny said meaningfully to Steve who just kept quiet looking at his bottle floating away. Not quite sure he was going to be able to do it as his body already started shaking, registering the bereavement of his precious liquor.

"Huh? We do it together? Sounds like a thing we do?" Danny asked, coaxingly.

Steve smirked, "Yeah, it's definitely a thing we do."

"See? We are already finding familiar ground." Danny said jokingly as they moved and made their way to the car. "We don't have to hold hands or anything right? Is that also a thing we do?"

Steve snorted with a derisive shake of his head, "Not a thing we do buddy."

"Thank God!" Danny said in mock relief. They both laughed.

They got to the car and Steve automatically went to the driver's side.

"Hey, how about I drive us back this time?' Danny asked

Steve raised his eyebrows at him.

"What, not a thing we do?" Danny asked confused

"Definitely not a thing we do." Steve said, getting into the driver's seat.

Danny got in beside him, "Ok, I may be coocoo in the head but I do remember you saying that this was my car." He said

"Yeah, so?" Steve said, acting deliberately obnoxious.

Danny waved his hands in the air, "Well then why are you always driving it? And don't tell me because I am a psychiatric patient because we both know that I can drive." Danny complained.

"Daniel, it's just not a thing we do."

"You mean even when I was still here...?"

"Yep."

"Why the hell not?!" Danny ranted, looking at this very nice sports car that was his yet he had never driven it.

Steve pretended to concentrate on the road, "You would drive it when you were going home after work."

"After work? On my way home? Well now that I am trapped at your house where am I gonna drive it to then?" Danny ranted

Steve looked out the window to hide the grin that was spreading on his face. He had missed this. He had missed Danny's rants.

"Well it's just the way it is Danno. It's a thing we do."

"Well, I don't think I like that thing we do." He ranted on and on and Steve smiled. Danno was well on his way back.

...

The first time it happened Danny was standing near the kitchen counter saying something about coffee. Yeah coffee. But Danny had been stressing about his upcoming Award Ceremony by the President which was to come in only a few days. He said he couldn't remember some of the things he had done and that he was pretty sure they had been really bad. Steve almost didn't want him to remember. The thought of it alone was eating away at Danny. He was afraid of what would happen if he did remember and if something horrible was indeed a part of those memories with Hassan. Danny would not be able to live with himself. He already was saying some nonsense about not deserving the medal. But what he had done alone, saving those children, had made him worthy of that medal. But try and convince 'Mr Worry' of that.

"Do you suppose Rachel drinks coffee? I know I can't stand tea. Maybe that's why we divorced in the first place." Danny said, casually sipping his coffee.

"Yeah, Danno. That's the mystery answer to why your marriage broke. Tea or coffee. The real tie breaker." Steve said sarcastically, seeping his own cup of coffee. It was early morning and they were preparing to go to Danny's psyche therapy. "Hurry up Danny, we're gonna be late."

"Oh, we gonna be late are we? Please , don't let me keep you from your appointment with my therapist." Danny said with sarcasm

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked, pretending a little indignation.

"Oh don't even. Don't you think I've noticed you and my very cute therapist eyeing each other?"

"No way..." He tried to deny but the smirk on his face was anything but convincing, "Well she is kinda cute isn't she?"

"Yeah, but way out'a your league buddy." Danny said

"Ha! You think? Buddy she was hooked the first time she set eyes on me." Steve bragged.

"Right."

"What, are you saying i don't got game?"

"Not really Steve, I mean...Ahhhhhh!"

Danny suddenly bent over clutching his head in pain. His cup of coffee now broken pieces on the floor.

Steve dropped his cup in the sink and quickly rushed to him. "Danny! Are you ok? What's happening buddy?" He asked frantically, scared as Danny just continued to scream in pain. He was now kneeling on the floor clutching his head and Steve could only hold him. He didn't know what to do.

"Danny, talk to me. What's happening?" Steve asked anxiously.

Then Danny suddenly started to seize. Steve tried to hold him still. Then he just froze suddenly and then went limb in his arms.

"Danny!" Steve shouted, slapping his face to try and wake him. "Danny!" He looked around, frantic, now in a full blown panic attack. "Help! Help me! Somebody!" He didn't know who he was calling to since it was just the two of them inside the house. He then remembered his phone and he took it out and called 911 for an ambulance.

He checked his pulse and it was still there. He took a hesitant sigh and kept holding him.

"Come on, wake up Danno. Wake up. Please. Don't do this to me again. Huh? Come on buddy." He kept chanting that, he didn't know what to do. He'd never seen this before. Danny was breathing but he just wasn't responding. He just held him like that until the ambulance arrived.

They quickly took Danny to the hospital and Steve went with him in the ambulance. Out of his mind with fear. The paramedics could only tell him that he was breathing, his BP was elevated but other than that, there was nothing. He was just...passed out. After he had been whisked away into the ER was when he remembered to call the others to come. He only called his team, not wanting to cause Rachel and the kids any anxiety before they knew what they were dealing with.

They were now waiting for news from the Doctors sitting in that waiting room. Everyone was anxious. They didn't want to have to tell Danny's kids that their father had died after all. Steve couldn't stop pacing.

The doctor walked into the waiting room, and the others stood up.

"Family of Danny Williams?" The Dr asked

"Yes, here." Steve replied, holding his breath, praying for good news as he looked anxiously at the doctor.

"Commander McGarrett, it's alright now. I understand Detective Williams is attending some Psychiatric treatment to reverse the side effects of the drug that was given to him to wipe his memory?" The Dr asked

"Yes." Steve said, not quite sure where this was going.

"Well the drugs he is taking now may have caused the seizure. It shouldn't happen but it is usually triggered by too much brain activity. Has he been stressed lately? Thinking too much? Is he even sleeping well?" The doctor asked

"Ah... about sleeping I am not quite sure. But he's been really stressed about the upcoming..."

"Oh yeah, the Award Ceremony." The doctor said with a smile. "He's going to be fine; we have given him some drugs to counter his hyper stress levels. We wouldn't want our hero to develop a brain aneurysm now would we?" He said with a proud smile. "It's actually an honor here at Queen's medical to attend to the likes of him and you Commander. He's in the recovery room now. He's awake and you can go in and see him." The doctor said, and left.

They all walked in together, Steve, Kono, Chin, Lou. Danny was sitting up in his bed, looking normal.

"Hey, how are you feeling brah?' Kono said, walking to him.

"I am ...better actually, Kono, thank you." Danny said, looking at all of their faces.

"You sure? What happened back here Danny? You scared the shit out of me?" Steve said, still a little panicked.

"I...I remember Steve." Danny said, looking up at Steve.

"What? What do you mean like...?"

"Not all of it. Hell, not nearly enough but I had a flash back of something. That seizure, there were pictures coming at me so rapidly and it was damn painful but, I remembered something." Danny said, a little confused by it all.

"Danno that's great!" Steve said with excitement, "What do you remember?'

"I remember you. I remember all of you guys. Just bits and pieces of some scenario or other but enough for me to know how I know you... you know. It's not enough, I have no memory of anything really...but you know. I know you." He said with a hesitant smile, looking at the other guys. "Hi Kono." He said, smiling at her. That usual blank look that was usually in his eyes somewhat gone.

"Hey brah. You remember me now?" She smiled and then sat on his bed to give him a hug. "Welcome back."

Danny smiled and looked at Chin and Lou. "Hey Chin, hey Lou. It's good to see you guys." He smiled at them.

Lou and Chin exchanged looked and started laughing jovially, "Hey man." Chin clasped hands with Danny and Lou followed suit. "Nice to have you back man."

"Nice to be back." Danny said, then frowned. There was something he was missing. There was something he remembered. He looked at Steve.

"What, you remember me too?" Steven asked with a smirk.

"No, you I've always remembered. Come here Steven. You Neanderthal animal." He said with a smile as Steve walked on to give him a hug.

"Don't ever scare me like that again man. If this is how you get your memory back then don't freaking remember!" Steve said, looking meaningfully at him.

"Well too bad Steve, the doc said its gonna keep happening as my memory comes back." Danny said, and Steve grimaced.

"Sorry for the pain brah, but we're glad you're getting it back." Kono said with a sympathetic smile.

Then Danny frowned again, there was just something at the tip of his brain but he couldn't really grasp it. It was important, he knew that much. Then it hit him and he gasped. Everyone looked at him in alarm.

"Danny are you ok?" Steve asked in concern. Danny was looking at him strange.

"Steve you're...you're drinking now? You're an alcoholic?!" Danny asked in disbelief.

The whole room went still and Steve grimaced. "Daniel you don't have to shout and let everyone know..."

"We already know Steve." Kono said, cutting in.

Steve looked alarmed. How? He had thought he had hid it well.

"Come on Steve, we're cops." Chin said with a knowing look.

"That's just great." Steve said in resignation.

"No, don't do that Steve. Don't you down play this. You are an alcoholic for christsake!" Danny thundered

"Umm...we'll wait outside." Kono said, not wanting to be caught in the impending crossfire.

Chin and Lou followed her outside with some comical looks on their faces.

"Daniel you don't have to rip into me like i am some five year old. So yeah I...I drink a little..."

"A little?!"

"Danny..." Steve was feeling defensive now. He had not counted on Danny caring since he could pretty much not remember him. Besides, they had talked about this at the bridge that day and he was now in an AA group. But Danny remembered. Swell.

"A little Steven? You're in the damn AA Steven. My God!"

"At least I am in the AA. Danny I am getting help. Plus we talked about this, why are you dredging this up again?"

"Getting help? Getting help Steve what the hell!"

"Daniel..."

"I leave you for two seconds..."

"Try two years buddy."

"You're a freaking alcoholic Steven!"

"Dude you're a mental patient Daniel!" Steve came back. He didn't know where that came from, only that he was being attacked and he had to fight back.

There was silence in the room. Kono, Chin and Lou just listened outside exchanging looks. Yeah, they sure didn't want to get caught up in that.

Lou shook his head, "Well, they sure are back." He said and Chin just smiled.

Back in the room Steve sighed and went to sit down on Danny's bed, shoulders dropped.

"I am a freaking alcoholic." He said to himself, contemplatively, dejectedly.

Danny sighed too, contemplatively. "I am a freaking mental patient." He said to himself too.

They looked at each other then, contemplating how far they had fallen. And how far they had come. They looked at each other and noticed how funny it all was. They just started laughing. Uncontrollably. Loud hysterical genuine laughter.

The others heard it and just looked at each other, shaking their heads.

"I guess the coast is clear." Chin said, going back into the room.

"They sure are back." Kono said, following in.

...

 **So there. See you in a bit.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15-step into the light.**

 **Hey guys, so here is the last chapter. Thank you all for your support and for reading, at been a nice journey and you've been a great audience.**

 **jedi4129,Cubit2, lenail125,detectivejiju,Elise Deschat, stefrosacarnevale,Long Live BRUCAS,JeanBlythe,Natalie Ryan,Irene Claire, Sabine68,julieb716,girlfic,rosayago65,Azteq, TMVH50,LAURA MARIA, Effie17,joyfuljaj, benswa, BronsonL,earthling1970 and guests. Thank you guys for the support. Those who followed and favored and read, i really appreciate you guys. You kept this story going. And you made me smile.**

 **So here's chapter 15.**

 **Brother- Kodaline. 2nd vs.**

 **Oh brother, we'll go deeper than the ink**  
 **Beneath the skin of our tattoos**  
 **Though we don't share the same blood**  
 **You're my brother and I love you**  
 **That's the truth**

 **We're living different lives**  
 **Heaven only knows**  
 **If we'll make it back**  
 **With all our fingers and our toes**  
 **5 years, 20 years, come back**  
 **It will always be the same**

 **[Chorus]**  
 **If I was dying on my knees**  
 **You would be the one to rescue me**  
 **And if you were drowned at sea**  
 **I would give you my lungs so you could breathe**

 **I've got you brother-er-er-er**  
 **I've got you brother-er-er-er**

The second time it happened, Danny's parents had flown in from Jersey to see him. Steve had picked them up from the airport and his sister Bridget was with them. It was a great reunion at the airport and they could not wait to see Danny. A son and brother returned to them from the dead. It was a lot to take in. Steve drove them to his house. The whole Ohana was there of course, and Danny's family. They had made it sort of another welcome home party for Danny and his parents. He had not been as nervous this time around. He had held his dad for so long, then his mother who cried so hard holding him close. Then he had come to Bridget, his sister that's when it happened. He held her and something triggered it. He started seizing again and just went flat, just like the last time. For Steve it was the second time he had witnessed it and he had also been warned about it by the doctors. And as the Award Ceremony day drew close he had prepared himself to expect it. But there was no preparation enough. Seeing Danny like that again sent him into a panic, like he was seeing it for the first time. But he had to take control and calm everyone down as he went to kneel besides him and held him close while shouting for someone to 'call a damn ambulance!'

It had all scared Grace and Charlie so much they had to be rushed out. Kono had to calm them down telling them that Danno was going to be ok. He was just remembering something and Doctors had said to expect such.

Then before the ambulance had even arrived Danny woke up. He started looking around for familiar faces and saw his mom. Steve was still holding him; he was still on the floor.

"Buddy are you feeling ok? Are you alright?" He asked anxiously.

"Mom?" Danny said looking at his mom. Then at his dad and his sister. He looked back at his mom who was also kneeling besides him on the floor. She took him into her arms and he burrowed into her embrace. "Mattie. Mattie." He started saying, chocking on sobs.

His mom held him close and exchanged painful looks with his dad. "Yes baby, what about Mattie?" She said, as she held him tighter knowing that he had remembered Mattie. Afraid to have to tell him that Mattie had died.

"I killed Mattie. I killed Mattie." He said, heart breaking as he sobbed uncontrollably.

"Oh my God." Steve said aghast, unable to control his emotion. That's what Danny remembered about Mattie. He had felt responsibly and now it was the first memory that came to him. Steve had never guessed that his friend had felt that way. Yes, after the whole Colombia thing Danny had been devastated but he had moved on alright. At least that's what Steve had thought. He had had no idea that he felt so strongly about it still. He'd never thought...

"No baby, no. Don't do that to yourself." His mother was coaxing him, holding him close.

"I killed him." Danny sobbed. "I just saw it now, I killed my brother."

"No Daniel listen to me. You could never kill your brother. You tried to save him and I know that if you could you would have given your life for him. He was your brother and you loved him. You tried Danny. But he was too far gone. You tried my baby. You tried." His mother tried to console him while her own heart was breaking into pieces.

After that Danny had to lie down in his room, the doctor had attended to him and cleared him for hospital but said he needed plenty of rest. They were all now gathered down stairs, the party mood now been a bit dampened. It had not been quite the reunion they had expected.

...

The day of the Award Ceremony came and Danny was feeling a bit better about it now. He still felt so undeserving but the crowds outside Steve's house spoke different. He had needed an escort. His team was there strong by his side, his family. Steve. Looking sharp in is dress blues, ready to take on the next duty assigned. Ever the Seal. Danny would have been a mess about this whole thing if not for him and his rock like strength, feeding strength for him to stand. The freaking President was here! Just for him. He was also here for the families with children that would have been killed had not Danny happened. Which was all of Honolulu really. Looking at it like that he felt a little better enough to accept the Medal. Besides, he could not really say no to the President. His stomach churned as he got out of their Government issued vehicle. The Ceremony was being held at an open space to make room for the myriad of people attending. It was going to make history. He was going to make history, and he wasn't so sure how he felt about that. Scared for one. At least it was the opposite kind of history than the one he would have made had he done what Hassan had wanted. This was good history. A good legacy he was leaving his children. He could not stop to think of how bad it would have all turned out.

They were going to have dinner with the President after the presentation. It was a huge deal. He didn't remember enough of what an honor this was supposed to be but Steve seemed excited enough for the both of them. His family, his team, they couldn't wait.

The Ceremony started and everything was just really too wild for him. He was standing at attention besides Steve as the President gave his speech. His team mates forming a line after him. As the President gave his speech it all kind of seemed familiar somehow. Like déjà vu. Like he had done this before. Where would he have done this before? He looked towards where his family was seated looking very royal. _Royal._ Something passed through his brain but he couldn't quite grasp it.

He looked at Grace and saw such utter pride in her eyes. He then looked at Rachel and it hit him. That look on her face. He had seen it before. He had wanted to see that look on her face, capture in on canvas or something.

Where? How?

He nudged Steve who nudged back, giving him the eye. Steve squared his shoulders, schooled his face and went back to giving his attention to the President as he continued his speech. At this point Danny couldn't even hear what the President was saying.

He gave Steve another nudge and he looked at him with aneurysm face, "What?" He mouthed.

"Have we ever done this before?" Danny whispered, leaning into him a bit for all the subtlety he could master.

"Done what Daniel?" Steve hissed impatiently, looking askance at the their audience of the President's detail.

"This." Danny used his eyes to indicate the whole Ceremony as he couldn't waved his hands as he wanted to. "I seem to remember that look on Rachel's face. I wanted to upstage some guy or other."

Steve smirked in realization, "Oh yeah, Stan."

"Who?"

"Rachel's ex husband. Her husband then." Steve whispered back.

"So did I pull it off?" he asked

"In spades partner." Steve said

"Ok, what was it then. The President again?"

"No buddy. The Queen."

"Queen of England?" Danny asked, amazed.

Steve nodded, catching the eye of one of the protocol guys eyeing them sternly. He nodded at the guy in apology and gave him a placating smile.

'The Queen of England. Nice!" Danny whispered, unconcerned about the protocol guy eyeing them.

Steve just smirked and nudged him to look forward. Danny tried to pay attention but he was too excited. He had just had another memory and the magnitude of what was happening right then dawned on him. The freaking President of the United States was here. Presiding over a Ceremony to give him a medal. Wow.

He nudged Steve again, "Do you realize something?"

"What?"

"I just had another memory without passing out." Danny said with pride.

 _"Men of valour are not made. They are borne. And we are proud to say we have such men in Detective Daniel Williams. A man who served his country with honour and when he was taken and his memory wiped clean, he did not forget to be patriotic. Even in that state of mind he remembered to save our children, to save his country. And for that we are here to honour such an incredible act of valour. True patriotism is not only of the mind, it is of the heart. And Detective Williams here has shown us that the heart can never be erased. Help me welcome Detective Daniel Williams to the podium. A true American Hero without a doubt."_ The President said to a very loud applause _._

Steve nudged Danny forward, "Don't pass out now buddy." He said with a smirk.

Danny looked back at Steve and he winked and nudged him forward. Without words and with a goofy grin on is face he was saying, You can do this. You got this. I got you." And that's all Danny needed to find the strength he needed to step forward onto the podium. When he felt overwhelmed with all the cheers and applause he would look at Steve and find the same strength being projected to him. It wasn't about the medals and the applause. It was about the people who would always have his back whether he was terrorist or hero. He wasn't alone anymore. He could do this. He was truly home.

 **And if we hit on troubled water**  
 **I'll be the one to keep you warm and safe**  
 **And we'll be carrying each other**  
 **Until we say goodbye on our dying day**

 **Because I've got you brother-er-er-er**  
 **I've got you brother-er-er-er**  
 **I've got you brother-er-er-er**  
 **I've got you brother-er-er-er**

 **...**

 **Guys, its been a good ride with you. Thank you. And i hope you join me again in my other fics to follow soon. Mahalo.**


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